By Danilo A. Reyes
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| An OFW walks out of POLO in anger after being denied service as she did not have an appointment |
After weeks of complaints and protests for the
abolition of the overseas employment certificate (OEC) the Philippine Overseas
Labor Office has backed down and allowed applicants to ask for assistance
without making a prior appointment.
Previously, the so-called “walk-in” service for OEC applicants still required them to apply for an appointment online before they were served.
This fueled a lot of criticism as OFWs who tried to get immediate help were often those who were not adept at navigating the internet, or needed to make an emergency exit.
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Dolores Balladares-Pelaez, chairperson of United Filipinos in Hong Kong welcomed the move Thursday, but maintained the OEC has to be scrapped for not serving any real purpose but to make life harder for overseas Filipino workers.
“Medyo nag ease ang hirap ng pagkuha kasi walk-in pwede na […] I think resulta ito ng protesta at para hindi sila dagsain ng mga protesta or calling the abolition of OEC,” Balladares told The SUN.
(The difficulty of obtaining the OEC has eased
somewhat because walk-ins are now allowed. I think this is the result of the
protests and the authorities’ desire not to be targeted by protesters calling
for the OEC’s abolition).
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But while she welcomed the measure, Balladares said “actually ang ginagawa ng gobyerno pamapatay sunog-galit lang ng mga OFWs” (What they are actually doing is to douse the flames sparked by the OFWs’ anger), suggesting that officials would not budge on their own to solve problems.
The demand for the OEC surged, and along with this, the complaints, starting early this month when many OFWs who were unable to go home for years due to strict pandemic rules are now able to leave.
Many found the registration under the new website of the Department of Migrant Workers far more difficult than when they had to do it through the Balik Manggagawa Online portal.
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Theoretically, those who have not moved jobs should be able to secure their OEC easily online after their personal details have been copied to the DMW portal from the BMO site. However, many found this not to be the case because their files from the BMO could not be moved easily.
Add to this their difficulty of navigating the DMW website using just their handheld phones, and with no prior briefing by Polo staff.
The problem is worse for elder migrants who are not tech savvy, and many of whom do not even have an email address through which all communication from the website is coursed.
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Without an OEC, an OFW cannot leave the Philippines. This exit requirement has put so much pressure on them to comply.
Consul General Raly Tejada said during a recent interview that the unprecedented volume of OEC applications in recent weeks due to many OFWs going for the Christmas holiday has put tremendous pressure on Polo staff.
“We are doing our job. It’s just the volume of applications is happening all at the same time. It’s the end of the year, the skies have opened and the people are able to fly home,” says Tejada.
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After the Consulate was inundated with complaints over the OEC, CG Tejada called a meeting between Polo officers and those from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ side to tell them that they should “put in some intervention to alleviate the OFWs' difficulty.”
In response, Polo decided to open on Fridays and set up an extension office anew at the Bayanihan Center in Kennedy Town on Sundays, dedicated only to attending to OEC applicants.
Tejada likewise appealed to two DMW officials to take immediate action when they came to Hong Kong recently to observe the EOC processing system.
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Undersecretary for Welfare and Foreign Employment Hans Cacdac and Assistant Secretary in charge of OEC, Levinson Alcantara, reportedly saw with their own eyes the difficulty of tackling the new computerized application system.
After their visit, Polo began implementing flexibility in processing OEC, including allowing those without prior appointment to walk in for consultation.
While some of the problems linked to the OEC have been solved, CG is still urging OFWs who plan to go home during peak seasons to secure the exit pass early.
But realizing that this could not be done really early because the OEC is valid for only 60 days, CG said he would ask the DMW to consider extending the validity of the pass for at least six months.
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