Proposed creation of migration dep’t.

Lawmakers favor the passage of a bill creating a new Department of Migration and Development (DMD) that would carry out government policies, strategies and programs for the protection and advancement of the growing number of Filipinos overseas.

There is ample support in both chambers of Congress for the bill establishing the DMD, so we have high hopes the measure will be passed. Senators Cynthia Villar and Ralph Recto have filed separate bills batting for the DMD.

In the House, Reps. Eric Singson (Ilocos Sur), Arthur Yap (Bohol), Carlos Cojuangco (Tarlac), Rose Marie Arenas (Pangasinan) and Michael Romero (1-PACMAN) and me have also filed separate bills pushing for the new department under various names.

As proposed in my House Bill 192, the DMD would plan and manage the country’s migration development agenda, primarily to harness for nation-building Filipino migrants who are coming home with skills and expertise acquired overseas.

We are pushing for the DMD because it offers a highly practical approach. Departmentalization will enable government to forcefully address all the concerns of Filipino migrants and their families.

The DMD would also allow the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) to focus on tackling equally pressing domestic issues, such as jobs creation, skills retooling, and putting in check rampant violations of general labor standards, including contractualization. The DMD would also free up the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to concentrate on developing diplomatic relations with foreign governments.

The DMD would entail minimal extra funding since it would merely provide new leadership to, absorb and reposition existing offices as well as their budgets. As proposed, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), both currently attached to the DOLE, would be moved to the DMD.

All of the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) now under the Dole would also be conveyed to the DMD. The Commission on Filipinos Overseas now under the Office of the President would likewise be transferred to the new department.

Two offices currently under the DFA – the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs and the Office of the Legal Assistant for Migrant Workers Affairs – would be passed on to the DMD as well. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, who filed a bill seeking the creation of the DMD when he was in the Senate, is expected to support the reorganization.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are not bothered by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III’s disapproval of the bill. Secretary Bello’s disagreement is understandable. He simply does not want his department emasculated on account of the transfer of a few agencies under him to another department run by another secretary.--ACTSOFW Rep. Aniceto “John” Bertiz III