Ople: Migrant workers’ dept ready for challenges in 2023
AMID expected global headwinds in 2023, the newlycreated Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is “ready to serve overseas Filipino workers [OFW],” Migrant Workers Secretary Maria Susana “Toots” V. Ople said over the weekend.
“The DMW is ready to fulfill its mandate” this year, Ople assured President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last Sunday. She also affirmed that the Department is “ready to fulfill its mandate as the primary government agency tasked with protecting the rights and welfare of OFWS and their families.”
Personally coveying her assurance, Ople vowed: “Pangako po, Mr. President, gagawin namin sa DMW at ng OWWA [Overseas Workers Welfare Administration] ang lahat para alagaan at ipaglaban ang ating mga OFWS at ang kanilang mga pamilya. Dahil iyan po ang inyong mahigpit na tagubilin sa amin. At dahil tunay po namin silang minamahal at ginagalang. [I promise, Mr. President, the DMW and OWWA will do everything to take care of and fight for our OFWS and their families because that is your strict instruction to us and because we truly love and respect them.]”
Ople spoke during the “Pamaskong Handog Para sa Pamilyang OFW” event of the DMW at the Malacañang Palace hosted by the President.
The event also marked the first anniversary of the creation of the DMW. Former President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11641 creating the DMW late December 2021.
In delivering her opening remarks, Ople reported to Marcos the significant milestones achieved by the DMW since her appointment this year.
These include 766,290 OFWS who were able to get decent jobs abroad through the DMW from July to December, while 6,341 distressed OFWS were able to return home during the same period.
Moreover, she said in Filipino that the OWWA will continue to provide livelihood assistance and scholarships to the families of OFWS (“Patuloy pa rin po ang pabibigay natin ng livelihood assistance at scholarships sa mga pamilyang OFWS.”). She noted that as of November 2022, the OWWA already has 16,000 scholars.
At the same time, Ople thanked Marcos and Congress “for giving the DMW its first full year budget in 2023, allowing the department to create 16 new regional offices and four Migrant Workers Offices [MWO], formerly known as Philippine Overseas Labor Offices, or POLOS.” This, she projects, would bring DMW services directly to OFWS and their families.
Ople said that also present at the Palace event were some 200 children of OFWS, their parents and guardians, noting that among those who participated were Education and Livelihood Assistance Program (ELAP) scholars Gabriel Cedrik de Vera Caburnay, John Robison Navas, and Shaira Mae Concepcion. ELAP scholars are children or dependents of deceased OFWS who were OWWA members.
She noted that Caburnay is a second-year college student taking up Bachelor of Marine Transportation studies at the Philippine Maritime Institute Colleges (PMIC), while Navas is a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering student at the Jose Rizal University. Concepcion is on her sophomore year as a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management student at the National University.