Cost of new OFW ID to be shouldered by employers

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Wednesday launched the new identification card for OFWs that will replace the overseas employment certificate (OEC).

The new ID called iDOLE or ID of the Department of Labor and Employment will be given to OFWs who have been legally processed for deployment.

A joint government project, iDOLE can be used by OFWs for Social Security System (SSS), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), PhilPost, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and Pag-IBIG Fund transactions.

OFWs need not apply nor pay to get an iDOLE as their employers are mandated to provide them with the ID.

"The processing of the iDOLE would be shouldered by the employers; hence, OFWs need not pay for the cost of the ID, which would be delivered by PhilPost to their respective addresses," DOLE said in a statement.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier said he is talking with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice through the Bureau of Immigration to find ways to allow OFWs to use iDOLE as their passport. —Rie Takumi/KBK/KVD, GMA News