Owwa extends assistance to 35 OFWs from Kuwait

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) Deputy Administrator for Operations Atty. Brigido ‘Dodo’ Dulay leads the agency’s Repatriation Assistance Division (RAD) in providing necessary assistance to 35 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) repatriated from Kuwait.

The female OFWs, employed as household service workers (HSWs), are scheduled to arrived yesterday, Wednesday, 22 February, via Philippine Airlines flight 669 at 8:20 in the morning.

The repatriates experienced various labor and welfare-related issues with their employers that include non-payment of salaries, mistreatment/ maltreatment, long working hours, among others. Aside from airport assistance accorded to the distressed workers including facilitating the release of travel documents from the Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Immigration.

OFWs who have no place to stay in Metro Manila will be temporarily accommodated at the OWWA Halfway Home. Cash-strapped HSWs will be given transportation fares and will be accompanied to the bus terminals onward to their respective provinces. Those who have legal issues and concerns with their agencies such as non-payment of salaries will be offered legal advise-through the Single-Entry Approach (Sena) Program. All returning workers are entitled to avail of the inter-agency program Assist Well (Welfare, Employment, Legal and Livelihood) Program, which is a collaboration between the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), Owwa, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

The program will help the distressed OFWs imbibe a positive outlook in life and to get their lives going by giving them options in their means of livelihood and employment.

Assist WELL Processing Centers nationwide are located in the following areas: POEA Main Office-Ortigas; OWWA Main OfficePasay City; NRCO Main Office, Intramuros, Manila; DOLE- CAR, Baguio City; POEA Regional Center for Luzon Region 1, La Union; DOLE Region ll,Tuguegarao; DOLE Region lll, Pampanga; OWWA Regional Office lV-A, Calamba, Laguna; DOLE Region lV-B, Calapan, Mindoro; DOLE Region V, Bicol; DOLE Region Vll, Bacolod; OWWA Regional Welfare OfficeVll, Cebu City; DOLE Region Vlll-Tacloban; OWWA Regional Welfare Office lX-Zamboanga; DOLE Region X, Cagayan de Oro; DOLE Region Xl, Davao Field Office; DOLE Region Xll- Koronadal; and POEA, CARAGA, Butuan City.