More Filipinos can be helped this year
Guidelines for granting assistance expanded and funding increased to Dh72.5m
The Philippine Consulate General is expecting more Filipinos in the UAE to receive welfare assistance this year now that the guidelines for issuing assistance have been expanded and the funding increased to one billion pesos (Dh72.5 million).
The Philippine Congress recently approved the request of President Rodrigo Duterte to increase the AssistanceTo-Nationals (ATN) Fund from 400 million pesos to one billion pesos and Legal Assistance Fund from 100 million pesos to 200 million pesos this 2018.
Philippine Consul-General Paul Raymund Cortes yesterday said both funds are available to all overseas Filipinos in all 84 missions worldwide, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Cortes said there are 618,726 Filipinos in the UAE as of 2016, based on figures from the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Aside from increased funding, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila also expanded or “relaxed” the guidelines for issuing ATN Funds to distressed Filipinos overseas. “[This latest development] means more Filipinos can receive help from the Philippine government,” Cortes said, adding, “We’re here to assist our compatriots; we don’t discriminate.”
Cortes said the consulate on Monday renewed its contract with the consulate’s legal retainer to provide legal assistance to the consulate for 2018. “We have a free legal clinic every Wednesday from 1 to 5pm and we urge Filipinos who can’t afford to hire a lawyer to call the ATN hotline to book a session with our lawyer and to bring all the documents pertinent to their case,” he said.
Vice-Consul Marianne Bringas, head of the ATN Section, said the relaxed ATN guidelines now allow for most cases to be covered, including civil, criminal and labour cases.