DoLE aims to legalize undocumented OFWs

MANILA, Philippines -- For 2009, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) will work to legalize the almost one million undocumented Filipino workers around the world, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said.

To realize this, Roque said documentation officers will be dispatched to Al-Ain in
United Arab Emirates (UAE) and then to Amman, Jordan this month to facilitate the documentation of illegal or undocumented OFWs.

"We will dispatch documentation team there to complete the process of their documentation," he said.

The labor chief said documenting and legalizing the status of the undocumented Filipinos abroad will enable the Philippine government to help them better.

After UAE and Jordan, the team will go to other countries.

While the exact number of undocumented OFWs is unknown, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas estimates this at around one million as of December 2007.

Of the 8.7 million Filipinos abroad, 3.7 million are permanent residents, 4.1 million are temporary contractual workers, and more than 900,000 are undocumented.

Many Filipinos leave the country as tourists with the intention of finding work abroad. In the United States, they are called TNTs or tago ng tago (always hiding). - Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net, January 13, 2009