DoLE keeps tab on migrants

The agency will launch the tracking system by the end the month called the OFW Assistance Information System

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) came up with a tracking system for workers needing help from the government to help lighten the ordeal of troubled overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

In a video conference on Thursday, DoLE Undersecretary Joji Aragon said the agency will launch the tracking system by the end the month.

Called the OFW Assistance Information System (OASIS), the locator will introduce an orderly and smooth repatriation, and assistance to the huge number of returning OFW.

Quick response from gov't

Likewise, DOLE also expects the tracker to make the government more responsive and prepared for the arrival of OFW. Through the system, the government can track the whereabouts of the returning OFWs and provide them prompt assistance and relief upon their return to the country.

The system, run by the DoLE Command Center, also serves as a reliable database for OFW displaced by the pandemic to help the government determine and immediately provide the kind of support they need once they land at the country’s airports.

Organized tracking

The system will also help DOLE identify and classify arriving OFW in a number of ways to facilitate organized arrival at the airport, efficient swab testing, and rapid pick up and transport to their respective hotels and homes and other necessary processes.

According to Labor Consultant Marianito Roque, the OASIS wasn't mainly developed for the purpose of pandemic response alone. He said it could also be used during other local and overseas emergencies affecting OFW.

"COVID or no COVID, the system will run," said Roque.

PHOTOGRAPH BY RIO DELUVIO FOR THE DAILY TRIBUNE @tribunephl_rio Fools’party In defiance of health restrictions, rallyists converge on the state university’s grounds for their so-called “Grand Mañanita.” Such reckless acts may push the government to revert Metro Manila to strict quarantine impositions.