Tesdaman wants DMW set up quickly as ‘orders’ confuse agencies, OFW

CALLING for a “fast but orderly transition,” Senator Joel Villanueva pressed concerned Duterte administration officials to frontload setting up the new Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) even as Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon prodded President Duterte to step into the breach.

“It is about time that the President intervenes and resolves the conflict created by the DMW appointment of Abdullah Mamao,” stressed Drilon, voicing concern that “to allow this situation to continue is detrimental to the interest of the labor sector and the OFWS.”

Mama-o should not have been appointed “secretary” of a nonexistent agency, but a member of the Transition Team tasked to set it up, Drilon said, adding that at least two key orders issued by Mama-o have caused confusion at a time that labor markets are reopening and OFW deployment is seen to ramp up.

In a separate statement, Sen. Villanueva, principal author of the DMW Law, urged the Transition Committee to promptly “take the next steps to fully constitute it in an orderly but expedient manner,” as he conveyed the urgent need of OFWS caught in the turf war of officials.

Villanueva, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development, prodded the Transition Committee to aim for a speedy and orderly turnover of functions to the DMW during the transition period, while making sure that there are no interruptions to OFW services. He warned that “confusion and delays during this period will be at the cost of the livelihoods of our migrant workers.”

This as the lawmaker lamented that “the brewing chaos was caused by two actions of Secretary Mamao, whom President Duterte appointed in March to the yet-to-beconstituted DMW.”

Drilon branded as “illegal” recent acts taken by Duterte’s former adviser, who, he recalled, has since been rebuffed by the key agencies involved in the Transition Committee, notable the Departments of Labor and Employment, and of Foreign Affairs.

Mama-o’s most recent controversial move was to order the lifting of the deployment ban on new hires for workers in Saudi Arabia, contradicting a policy laid down by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

Drilon said Bello was right in announcing that the ban remains in place, and directed relevant agencies, such as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), to follow DOLE’S, not Mama-o’s, guidance.

Mama-o earlier directed offices that will be folded in under a DMW to immediately turn over their personnel and assets to his office, causing confusion at the DOLE and DFA units affected by the protest.

Other stakeholders in the migrant worker sector denounced the confusion caused by this order, which Malacañang, through the office of the Executive Secretary, halted.

Drilon, who served as Executive Secretary, as well as Justice and Labor Secretary, had noted that while the DMW has not been fully constituted, it is the Transition Committee provided for in the law, which must be moving, not Mama-o.

Villanueva for his part reminded the DMW to “refrain from issuing orders or directives on deployment bans before the department is fully constituted,” recalling that Republic Act No. 11641, or the Department of Migrant Workers Act, requires the DMW Secretary to consult with the Advisory Board on Migration and Development and the DFA Secretary before it decides any ban on the deployment of migrant workers, which can only be undertaken when the DMW is fully operational.

Confusing directives, especially on deployment bans, make OFWS vulnerable to illegal recruiters and fixers, Villanueva said. “The transition period compounds a very delicate time for our migrant workers,” he noted, adding that “not only will a new administration impact this important sector, but global events such as the pandemic and the Russia-ukraine conflict have far-reaching effects.”

Under R.A. 11641, the new department will be fully constituted after the publication of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), submission of its staffing pattern to the Department of Budget and Management, and drawing up its budget in the General Appropriations Act for the first year of operations.

“The faster the Transition Committee complies with the requirements of the law to constitute the DMW, the sooner we deliver our promise of dedicated service to our OFWS,” the senator said.