Duterte’s first SONA, one year later: Overseas Filipinos

Every State of the Nation Address is both a look back and a look ahead—to the President's accomplishments the previous year, and to what he or she plans to do next.

When President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his first SONA on July 25, 2016, he had only been in office for less than a month. However, many of the issues he talked about were already familiar to Filipinos as being close to his heart, thanks to the presidential campaign and his long tenure as Davao City mayor.

GMA News Online looks at some of the issues he discussed in his first SONA, and what the administration is doing to address them.

Before he was elected, President Duterte promised Filipinos working abroad that they would be his top labor concern.

Over the past year, 17 One-Stop Service Centers were opened by the Department of Labor and Employment to reduce transaction costs and shorten the processing time of documents by putting various government agencies under one roof, so that applicants do not need to go from one government office to another obtaining various permits.

According to a fact sheet by DOLE, 1,084,220 OFWs have been served nationwide by OSSCs at:

• NCR
• CAR (Baguio City)
• Region 1 (La Union)
• Region 2 (Tuguegarao)
• Region 3 (Clark)
• Region 4 (Calamba)
• MIMAROPA (Palawan)
• Region 5 (Legazpi)
• Region 6 (Iloilo City)
• Region 7 (Cebu City)
• Negros Island Region (Bacolod)
• Region 8 (Tacloban)
• Region 9 (Zamboanga City)
• Region 10 (Cagayan de Oro City)
• Region 11 (Davao City)
• Region 12 (Koronadal City)
• CARAGA (Butuan City)

Among the services offered by these one-stop shops include: passporting; OWWA membership renewal and application for educational, training, and welfare assistance; issuance/renewal of professional license ID; issuance/revalidation of Seaman's Book; processing/updating of membership to Pag-IBIG, SSS, and PhilHealth including loans, claims, and contribution payments; processing and issuance of certificates (birth, marriage, death, CENOMAR), NBI clearance, TIN, among others.

The plan to open new consular offices is still in the proposal stage. The DFA's Office of Public Diplomacy (OPD) told GMA News Online that they have proposed the opening of these offices as well as "Passport Personalization Centers" in Metro Manila and "in underserved areas."

The validity of the Philippine passport was finally extended from five years to 10 after the signing of the proposal earlier this year.

"Upon the instructions of the President, the DFA is working with the Senate and the House of Representatives on the extension of the validity of the Philippine passport.  The bill amending RA 8239 has already passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate," the DFA wrote.

Passports can now cost applicants P1,900 to P2,000, twice the current price of P950 for passports with five-year validity. Passports of children aged three and below will only be valid for three years while passports of children aged four to 18 will be valid for five years.

The idea of a financial literacy campaign for OFWs has been mooted for years. In 2013, during the Aquino administration, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas launched PESO Sense, a campaign that "aims to improve the financial acumen of both Overseas Filipinos (OFs) and their beneficiaries."

PESO sense included workshops—the first of which was launched in 2015—and a mobile app.

GMA News Online has reached out to the CFO for an update on any developments in the campaign and mobile app during the Duterte administration.

The long-anticipated Department of OFW remains a proposal in Congress.

"The DFA has been attending the hearings in Congress.  At all times, the DFA is cooperating with Congress on the ways to serve the people through appropriate legislation," the department said.

However, an early promise revived by the Duterte administration, a new ID system for OFWs, was finally rolled out in the past month to replace the overseas employment certificate (OEC).

The ID, known as 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.

While universally lauded, the OFW ID became controversial due to its lack of implementing rules and regulations and distinction on whether recruitment agencies or employers should shoulder the costs of the IDs. — BM, GMA News