Law Creating OFW Department Signed
The measure will establish a department that will respond to the concerns and needs of Filipino migrant workers.
President Duterte signed into law a measure creating a separate department for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), whose remittances have kept the Philippine economy afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking during the signing of the measure at Malacañang on Thursday, Dec. 30, Duterte called the OFWs “modern-day heroes” and likened them to national hero Jose Rizal.
“The establishment of the Department of Migrant Workers happens on the celebration of Rizal Day, when we honor not only the exceptional love of country of Dr. Jose Rizal, but also the patriotism, excellence and courage of our modern-day heroes, including our overseas Filipino (workers),” the President said during the signing of Republic Act No. 11641 which provides for the establishment of the DMW.
The bill creating the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) was approved on final reading by the Senate last December. The House of Representatives adopted the Senate version of the measure, allowing the bill to be sent to the Office of the President without undergoing deliberations by the bicameral conference committee.
The measure will establish a department that will respond to the concerns and needs of Filipino migrant workers and serve as lead agency for implementing policies, plans and programs that will ensure the protection, promotion of interests, timely resolution of problems, and effective reintegration of OFWs.
To fulfill its mandate, the DMW shall absorb all powers and functions of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration; Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs under the Department of Foreign Affairs; Philippine Overseas Labor Office, International Labor Affairs Bureau, and National Maritime Polytechnic under the Department of Labor and Employment; National Reintegration Center for OFWs under the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration; and Office of the Social Welfare Attaché under the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The OWWA, on the other hand, will continue to function pursuant to its charter but shall be attached to the DMW for policy and program coordination purposes.
The remittances of the more than two million OFWs worldwide help fund the economy’s foreign currency requirements and fuel consumer spending. Central bank preliminary data showed that the value of remittances from Filipinos in other countries totaled $28.8 billion in the 10 months to end-October, already higher than the $27.6 billion sent home in 2019 and the $27.4 billion posted in the same period last year.
A promise fulfilled
Sen. Bong Go, who has been consistently pushing the DMW creation, said this newly created body will provide fast, efficient and reliable service to OFWs.
“Congratulations to our migrant workers. They have been fighting for this department for a long time and now one of President Duterte’s promises to you can be fulfilled,” he said.
Go lauded Duterte for signing RA 11641, which provides for the establishment of the DMW – one of the priority legislative measures of the Duterte administration.
The DMW is a key campaign promise of President Duterte in 2016. In December 2020, he certified as urgent the version of the bill authored by Go after issuing several appeals for its im-mediate passage in his past State of the Nation Addresses.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said the new department is the “government’s Christmas gift to OFWs” as Sen. Joel Villanueva noted that this is “one step forward in fulfilling the promise of improving government services” to them.
“Now that the law has been signed, we must continue to press on to ensure the spirit of the law—to provide all the services needed by our OFWs under one roof—is fulfilled down to the last letter. It must be as good as it is advertised,” Villanueva said.
“Today, we make good of our promise for our OFWs to be treated better, with dignity befitting heroes who have kept the country’s economy afloat and their families who stay behind and bear the sacrifice of being apart with their parents and relatives,” added Villanueva, who chairs the Senate labor committee tasked to shepherd the bill in the upper chamber.
Despite these, the militant group Migrante criticized the creation of DMW saying this will only strengthen the institutionalization of the labor export program.
“There should be jobs in the Philippines, not outside it,” it said in a statement. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Mayen Jaymalin, Emmanuel Tupas
