Volume XXXIX, No.

296 ,"; Wednesday, September 18, 2019 ,", pl 0,00

DEPAFTiTENT OF OFWS - House Maioritv Leader and Levte
Rep. Martin Romuatdez (tett) tatks about Hbtse Bi 3274 prop;s_
ing the creation ot lhe Overseas Filipino Workers Depadment
'. which he and his wife Tingog party f_isr nep. Veaia
-niarie

Romualdez (inset) authored during the commiitee meeting on

Overseas workers Attairs chaireA by TuCp party List iep.
Raymond Mendoza (righr) at the House ot Representative!,
Listeiing to him is House Speaker AIan peter Cayetano (center).
The Romualdez couple cited the numeaous gainC ol the ireatioir
of an OFW Department. photo by VER NOVENO

yesterday, made a strong pitch for the immediate passage

I"OY9-| !."d:ls
or several proposals seeking to create a new department thaf wouTd
cater to overseas- Fitipino wor:kers (OFWS), undeiscoring the need io
create a joint technical working grdup to thresh out all concerns on
the matter. /Page t5

During yesterday's
House Coinmiitee on Gov-
emment hearing, Speaker
AlanPeterCavetino,House
Maio ty t-eaaer and Levte
Rei. Martin Romualdez
und Tingog party-list Rep.
Yedda Marie KittilstveAt
Romualdez led House lead -
ers in pushing for the ap-
proval-of the measure.
Citins a meetins last
Monday"at Malacahang,
Cavetano said there weie
d is'c'ussi ons with Sen. ToeI
Villanueva. who chais' rhp
Senate Co;mith?e on labor,
Executiv€ Sec. Salvador
Medialdea, Labor Sec. Sil-
vesk€ B€llo m, S€nate Pies-
ident Vicmte Sotto Itr and
others for oossible creatirn
of a joint t&hnical workjng
goup to turmonize the pro-
po6ed deparunent of OFWS.
"Isang ioint technical
working group (ang kail-
angan) para rna-thresh out
lahat ni issues. I just want
to emphasize thal this bi]l
can be described bv one
word-focus," said' Cay-
etano, one of tlle princip;l
Representatives Martin
and Yedda Romualdez,
both principal authors of
the measure under Hous€
Bill (HB) 3274, said the
absence of a sngle aFency
[o address foreign emploi-
me1rt concems has made it
difficult for the goverrun€nt
to focus on the needs and
dernands o{ forejgn Fi[pi-
no emDloirnent, in perl€ral,
and ofoFWs, in pafticular.
"Fwthermorc, the Iack
of coordination among thes€
agencies and redundancy
of work lead to confusioir
among our.OFWs and com-
promises the services to be
iendered to our modern-
dav heroes. Desoite the ex-
istence of agendes to pra
tect Filipinds abroad,-nu-
merous problems and chal-
Ienges confront OFWS and
tlEir famities: ilteeal resuit-
menL emplover a-buse, sex-
ual abuse. irhdeouate ben-
efits, inefficient aid ineffec-
tive deJivery of services to
OFWs, lacd of tepresenta-
tion of the OFW in_teredts in
the agencies that'are iuf-
posed to protect and pro,
mote therr rrghts, among
oihers." the -Romual.lp;
couDle said.
tteputy Speakers Ranm
Abu of Batangas and Mi
kee Rornero of f Pacnan
party-list also underscored
the need to apDrove the
measure wi th iiispatch,
stressing rnany OFWS are
"We suDoort th€ Dro-
oosed lawiiined at lesl+s
ing illegal recruitsnent and
abrse a--gainst overseas Fil-
ipiro workers (OFWs) white
hastening the delivery of
servkes Io them. Gua-ran-
teed protection for their
rightd and welfare is our
oin little wav o{ returnins
the huge far/or they havE
been extending to sustain
the counEy's positive econ-
omy," said Abu.
'The dedicated deDarF
ment will address the'con-
cems of millions of OFWS
and their families. It will
also simplifu the orocess of
deployiig them 6verseas,"
s;ud Komero, anotlEr au-
thor of the measure and
president of the 54-man
Partvlist Coalition Foun-
dati6n, Inc. (PCFI).
Ako Bisava oartv-list
Rep. Sonny L;go; lairenF
ed that there aid different
agencies that have rnan-
dates relative to ovetseas
employment, lacking fo-
cus to their plight-and
"Conqress and Presi
dent DutErte will work on
harmonizing the existing
Sovernment programs ii
responding to the needs of
our OFWS. There is a need
for an agency that will sole-
Iv addiess the needc 6f
OFWS," said Lagon.