The Center for Migrant Advocacy-Philippines (CMA) and the Working Group on Migration of the Political Science Department of Ateneo de Manila University (WGM) put together four thematic agenda that correspond to the abbreviation OFWS for easy reference or recall.
These are: Onsite foreign service posts (related to issues of governance), Families, too (social costs of migration), Workers’ Rights (promotion of workers’ rights as human rights), and Sustainable jobs (job creation, with the end view of eliminating forced migration).
Each theme represents a desired improvement in institutional arrangements and carries with it a situationer and rationale and desired improvements and specific proposals. The agendas are written in narrative form to send the message that platforms should not be just a listing of must-haves, rather, a set of interrelated proposals that clarify the reforms that need to be established and the means by which these reforms can be achieved, according to the agenda briefer.
Organizers said the agenda was largely based on the 10-point migrant agenda of the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW) developed in 2013 and the proceedings of the 2012 Roundtable discussions on "Migration and Development" organized jointly by CMA, Ateneo WGM and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Philippines.
Among the proposals under the first agenda is an increase in the budget for foreign service posts for the deployment of more personnel and provision of more assistance to OFWs on site.
It was noted that government saved P100 – P150 million in 2012 when it closed 10 foreign service posts but it meant higher personal costs for OFWs who had to travel farther to seek government assistance.
It said the proposal to establish a Department on Migration and Development separate from the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) must be studied carefully and consulted with all stakeholders.
“While at first glance such a national government body is needed as it will consolidate all migrant-related services, there are a number of problems that could arise from its establishment. A separate Department could send the wrong message to the public that migration-for-work is to be promoted further as its establishment signals a level of "permanence," the agenda briefer said.
The proposal can also displace government employees in existing migration-related agencies. “In other words, caution should be taken in establishing a new department at could create new problems rather than solve existing ones,” it said.
