DBM: Minimum budget for new Department of Overseas Filipinos is P1.19 billion

The proposed Department of Overseas Filipinos (DOFIL) will need at least P1.19 billion funding requirement, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said on Monday.

Director Emelita Menghamal of the DBM’s Systems and Productivity Improvement Bureau made the disclosure during the deliberations on the proposed DOFIL before the Senate Committee on Labor chaired by Senator Joel Villanueva. 

“The estimated budget for 2021 [for DOFIL] is P1.19 billion which is a minimum requirement for newly created department,” she said. 

“This [amount] covers its operational cost but does not include budget for the implementation of its programs, activities and projects needed to meet its target outcomes in accordance with its mandate,” she added.

Prior to the DBM official giving estimates, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the government can earmark a P15-billion budget for DOFIL for its first year of existence with the budget sourced from various offices currently under the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) or the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). 

The P15 billion budget is broken down to:  

• P12 million from the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA); 
• P1 billion from the Assistance to Nationals of the DFA;
• P200 million from the Legal Assistance Fund; 
• P152 million of Commission on Filipino Overseas; 
• P31.528 million from International Labor Affairs Bureau;
• P1.375 billion from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office;
• P4.219 billion from National Reintegration for OFWs; 
• P169 million from Social Welfare Attaches Office/International Social Services Office 
• P507 million from Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA); and
• P7.39 billion from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA)

Nograles also said that under the proposed measure certified urgent by President Rodrigo Duterte, the DOFIL will also have POEA and OWWA as attached agencies. 
?At present, OWWA and POEA are attached agencies of the DOLE. 

“At least, for its first year, wala nang dagdag na budget kasi iyong budget implications sa next budget cycle na,” Nograles said. 

“Kaya six months po ang nakalagay na transition period [sa measure]. That is why we want it passed now. If Congress passes it into law this month, and the President signs it in March, towards the end of 2021, doon na natin makikita ang budget implication, pero very minimal siguro,” he added.

Villanueva, for his part, argued that investing in a new department is worth it considering the huge contribution of overseas Filipino workers to the economy. 

“Noong 2019, umabot po ng P1.56 trillion ang kabuuang cash remittances ng mga overseas Filipinos. Ito 'yung pinadaan sa bangko at remittance centers. Mas malaki pa ang halaga kung kasama ang perang personal na inuwi o ‘ipinakisuyo’ kay kabayang umuwi sa Pilipinas,” Villanueva pointed out.

“And because overseas Filipinos are prospering worldwide," the senator noted the country also prospered, "lifting many out of poverty. These facts alone are enough justifications to create a whole department mandated to only look after OFWs worldwide, and consolidate the mandates of smaller government offices under the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Foreign Affairs,” he added.

National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon, for her part, said that the transition period in establishing the new department should be extended to two years instead of six months for the government to have enough financial resources to fund it. —KG, GMA News