Resource centers of Philippine embassies will be "transformed" to offer a wider range of "care and services" for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) instead of simply being sites for skills enhancement.
This was announced by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Friday, citing President Benigno Aquino III’s agenda to further strengthen OFWs.
Under the agenda, Filipino Workers Resource Centers (FWRCs) — subsumed under the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) of embassies — will offer expanded onsite services for Filipinos working abroad.
As a result, "full psychosocial assistance will be provided by the POLO and its network of reputable social workers and faith-based non-government organizations," a statement issued by the DOLE said, quoting Labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.
The FWRCs’ new role will complement the “wholistic approach" in providing welfare and protection as well as “reintegration assistance" to OFWs, the statement said.
Economic and reintegration assistance will include placement services, skills retraining, assessment and certification, and livelihood education assistance for dependents.
Skills training and upgrading will be offered to OFWs as soon as they arrive at their overseas destination to prepare them for their reintegration upon returning to the country, the statement said.
Reintegration planning will now be part of the Pre-Departure Orientation Services (PDOS) and Post Arrival Orientation Seminars (PAOS), which OFWs routinely undergo before they go abroad and after they arrive back.
“The FWRCs as onsite centers for expanded protection will play an important part in the reintegration process," Baldoz said.
The DOLE secretary cited the FWRC in Malaysia, which has been offering various skills training programs for OFWs.
For instance, it offers courses such as arts and crafts, Bahasa language, basic accounting, arnis, cosmetology, hair culture, nursing home care, business management, computer courses, culinary arts, dressmaking, English, financial management, reflexology, tailoring, voice lesson, and orientation on Philippine and Malasyian laws.
These courses, Baldoz said, will equip OFWs with appropriate skills that would enable them to find better jobs or embark on livelihood projects that will help them sustain their overseas earnings and improve their economic chances upon their return to the country.
She said the conduct of various skills training will be replicated in other FWRCs in other parts of the world where there is a high concentration of OFWs.
Baldoz said these initiatives are in line with RA 10022, the law which amends RA 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995.
“We are now full blast in redesigning our onsite protection and reintegration programs in accordance with the provisions of R.A. 10022 and its implementing rules and regulations," Baldoz said in the same statement.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, International Labor Affairs Bureau, Philippine Overseas Labor Offices, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority are the DOLE agencies tasked by Baldoz to implement this agenda in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs. — Robert JA Basilio/JV, GMANews.TV, Article posted August 14, 2010 - 12:52 AM
Showing posts with label OFWS Law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OFWS Law. Show all posts
Monday, August 16, 2010
IRR on OFWs’ law out
The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), through the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), released last Friday the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 10022 or the amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995.
“The amended law would protect the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and intensify the criminal liability of erring recruitment agencies,” POEA Deputy Administrator Hans Cacdac said.
The modified law took effect 15 days after its implementing guidelines had been published from two newspapers with a general circulation last July 23 and would be executed by the DoLE, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Health, National Labor Relations Commission(NLRC), and the Insurance Commission.
However, Cacdac said some of its provisions, particularly about the deployment of OFWs to countries that have been certified by the DFA and the mandatory insurance coverage of migrant workers would still not take effect.
Under R.A. 10022, the DFA would have to subject the host countries where OFWs would be deployed, to a criteria provided by the law.
It stipulated a 90-day review period after the amended law has taken effect for countries, where the Philippines has an embassy and 120 days for countries without one.
Until the DFA has finished its assessment, the status quo would be implemented on the country’s migrant deployment procedures.
Countries which have no bilateral trade agreement with the Philippines or have no law protecting its migrant workers would be flagged by the DFA and removed from the list of possible destination for OFWs.
Among the countries which would be examined are high-risk areas like Iraq, where hundreds of OFWs were recently repatriated by some US recruitment agencies.
Cacdac said there are at least 197 countries where OFWs are deployed.
Meanwhile, the implementation of the provision on the mandatory insurance of OFWs would also be delayed for 30 days after the IRR has taken effect until the Insurance Commission has finished its ongoing meeting with concerned stakeholders on the development of its more detailed guidelines.
The law would require recruitment agencies to pay the premium of the following insurance coverage for OFWs: $15,000 in case of accidental death; $10,000 in case of natural death; $7,500 in case of permanent disablement.
Some of the other provisions of R.A. 10022 which have taken effect include the following: Repatriation of OFWs if necessary at the expense of their recruitment agencies; prohibition of act of reprocessing or alteration on an OFW’s contract; inspection of medical clinics screening Filipinos before they are deployed.
It also emphasizes on the provision which bars foreigners from owning majority of the shares of a recruitment agency.
The section was included in response to the reports from some members of the recruitment sector that a number of land-based recruitment agencies, are mostly owned or managed by foreigners, which is against the foreign ownership law, Cacdac said.
DoLE, with the assistance of the Department of Justice (DoJ), would file criminal cases against the erring companies even without the testimony of the victims through the accounts of government operatives who conducted the inspection of the said establishments.
The administrators or owners of the companies would be penalized with 12 to 20 years of imprisonment and pay a fee of P1 to P2 million.
Source URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/272518/irr-ofws-law-out
“The amended law would protect the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and intensify the criminal liability of erring recruitment agencies,” POEA Deputy Administrator Hans Cacdac said.
The modified law took effect 15 days after its implementing guidelines had been published from two newspapers with a general circulation last July 23 and would be executed by the DoLE, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Health, National Labor Relations Commission(NLRC), and the Insurance Commission.
However, Cacdac said some of its provisions, particularly about the deployment of OFWs to countries that have been certified by the DFA and the mandatory insurance coverage of migrant workers would still not take effect.
Under R.A. 10022, the DFA would have to subject the host countries where OFWs would be deployed, to a criteria provided by the law.
It stipulated a 90-day review period after the amended law has taken effect for countries, where the Philippines has an embassy and 120 days for countries without one.
Until the DFA has finished its assessment, the status quo would be implemented on the country’s migrant deployment procedures.
Countries which have no bilateral trade agreement with the Philippines or have no law protecting its migrant workers would be flagged by the DFA and removed from the list of possible destination for OFWs.
Among the countries which would be examined are high-risk areas like Iraq, where hundreds of OFWs were recently repatriated by some US recruitment agencies.
Cacdac said there are at least 197 countries where OFWs are deployed.
Meanwhile, the implementation of the provision on the mandatory insurance of OFWs would also be delayed for 30 days after the IRR has taken effect until the Insurance Commission has finished its ongoing meeting with concerned stakeholders on the development of its more detailed guidelines.
The law would require recruitment agencies to pay the premium of the following insurance coverage for OFWs: $15,000 in case of accidental death; $10,000 in case of natural death; $7,500 in case of permanent disablement.
Some of the other provisions of R.A. 10022 which have taken effect include the following: Repatriation of OFWs if necessary at the expense of their recruitment agencies; prohibition of act of reprocessing or alteration on an OFW’s contract; inspection of medical clinics screening Filipinos before they are deployed.
It also emphasizes on the provision which bars foreigners from owning majority of the shares of a recruitment agency.
The section was included in response to the reports from some members of the recruitment sector that a number of land-based recruitment agencies, are mostly owned or managed by foreigners, which is against the foreign ownership law, Cacdac said.
DoLE, with the assistance of the Department of Justice (DoJ), would file criminal cases against the erring companies even without the testimony of the victims through the accounts of government operatives who conducted the inspection of the said establishments.
The administrators or owners of the companies would be penalized with 12 to 20 years of imprisonment and pay a fee of P1 to P2 million.
Source URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/272518/irr-ofws-law-out
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