Duterte looking to place OFW recruitment solely under gov’t control

President Rodrigo Duterte is looking to place the recruitment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) under the direct and exclusive control of the government as he called out private agencies over unfair practices and the abuse of migrants.

In a speech in Quezon City on Friday, the President said Filipinos should apply for overseas jobs through the government instead.

"Buong Pilipinas 'to bawal na 'yang recruitment diyan sa labas," Duterte said during the Araw ng Pasasalamat for OFWs event in Camp Aguinaldo. 

"I have the power to do that because that kind of mechanism of recruiting Filipino workers abroad has been abused and abused and abused at ang mga kababayan ko puro biktima, puro kawawa," he added.

"Kaya kayong mga recruitment, bilang talaga ang araw niyo. 'Pag hindi ko kayo nadala sa usapan na maganda, brasuhan tayo," Duterte said. "Government supervision and control because what has happened and has been happening is not acceptable to the Filipino now."

He also renewed his call for the creation of a Department of OFW, which will entail a law to be passed by Congress, by December.

The President promised to have a framework for the proposed department by the second week of August.

Interviewed after the event, Duterte's former top aide and now Senator Christopher "Bong" Go said the President's target was "doable."

"Possible at doable naman po by December po ito given the President will certify this as urgent," Go said.

Duterte had vowed to create a full-fledged department that would streamline and simplify the bureaucratic requirements for Filipino workers aspiring to work or already working abroad.

Bills seeking to create an OFW department did not pass in the 17th Congress although some lawmakers vowed to push for it in the incoming 18th Congress, which opens on July 22.

Duterte also vowed to build hospitals and set up police attachés for the benefit of OFWs.

"‘Yung hospital, pati lagyan ko ng police attaché sa lahat ng binanggit ninyo na lugar so that if you think that you have a problem here concerning a police, maybe may problema ka, nanakawan o ‘yung sa anak mo, you can go direct to the police attaché," he said.

"The police attaché will connect you dito sa Pilipinas kung ano ang problema. And they will be trained to help you in legal matters of how to do it in the meantime that you are not here to solve the problem." 

Millions of OFWs send billions of dollars of remittances each year that keep the Philippine economy buoyant. —NB/KG, GMA News