DMW to launch one-stop One Repatriation Command Center for OFWs next week

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said it is set to launch its One Repatriation Command Center next week, according to JP Soriano’s report on “24 Oras” Thursday.

“Isa na lang ang dudulugan ng mga pamilya ng OFWs para sa shipment of remains, para sa repatriation of stranded or exploited OFWs. And kami na rin mismo ang tatawag sa mga pamilya,” DMW secretary Susan “Toots” Ople said.

(Families of OFWs will only need to coordinate with one agency for the shipment of remains, or the repatriation of stranded or exploited OFWs. And we will be the ones to call the families.)

The center will provide necessary assistance for the OFWs and their families, in a bid to prevent instances such as the ordeal Susan Molino went through after her OFW husband Reandro Molino was killed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in May last year.

Molino said she had to reach out to several labor agencies to bring home her husband's remains.

“Hindi namin alam kung saan mag-uumpisa, kung kanino kami lalapit ,kung kay Overseas Worker Welfare Administration (OWWA) ba, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), kung kay embassy o kahit saang ahensya,” Molino said.

(We didn't know where to start or who to approach, whether it was the OWWA, DFA, embassy or any other agency.)

Through the help of the DFA, her husband's remains were finally brought back to the Philippines after two months.

Molina, however, cannot forget the struggles they faced just to bring him home.

“Ang sakit-sakit, tapos tinuturo-turo ka lang, hindi mo alam kung tinuturo ka ba talaga nila sa tama. Sa isang araw  iilan ang pinupuntahan namin, pabalik-balik kami,” Molino said.

(It was already painful, and then they'd just point you in one direction or another, and you don't even know if they're pointing you in the right direction. In one day we went to so many places, we kept coming back to them again and again.)

This experience will be prevented with the One Repatriation Command Center, said Ople.

Reshuffle

Meanwhile, labor agencies formerly under Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will now be part of the DMW, such as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO), the International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB), the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), the OWWA, and the National Maritime Polytechnic (NRM).

All POLO offices in the different parts of the world will now be part of the DMW.

However, in countries or territories that do not have an assigned POLO, the DFA will still provide assistance such as the repatriation of OFWs, for instance in Sri Lanka.

Around 150 Filipinos in Sri Lanka have requested repatriation amid the ongoing widespread protests over the economic crisis in the country, the DMW said.

Currently, the budget for the DMW has not been included in the 2022 budget of the country.

According to Ople, the funds needed for the DMW will first come from the attached labor agencies.

The DOLE, on the other hand, said it will provide livelihood and jobs to Filipinos including returning OFWs. — Richa Noriega/BM, GMA News