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| Saret says the initial workload of the MWO staff taking over OFW cases will be tough |
Soon, all overseas Filipino workers facing non work-related problems will no longer have to seek help from the assistance to nationals section of the Philippine Consulate General.
This is because the law creating the
Department of Migrant Workers (RA 11641) specifically provides that all
OFW-related concerns will now have to be dealt with under one roof.
For overseas posts, that will mean all
services being integrated under the Migrant Workers’ Office, which replaced the
Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
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The transition to the new system started
in January this year, and should be completed by February next year, according
to ATN head Consul Paulo Saret.
This means OFW issues will be addressed
by MWO while ATN will focus on helping all Filipinos who are not migrant workers.
The changes entailed by the creation of
DMW also included the transfer of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development’s attached office from the PCG to the MWO, with Social Welfare Attaché
Remilene Marcelino now working under the supervision of Labor Attache Mel
Dizon.
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The Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration, however, has not been affected by the changes as it continues
to operate as a separate agency with its own funds, though still under the DMW.
Where previously ATN officers were seen
accompanying OFWs with court cases to the courts or visiting confined OFW patients in hospital,
since May 2 it has been either Marcelino or MWO officer Joffrey Gido Pagaran doing
the rounds.
Saret said Pagaran and Marcelino have
been training at ATN since February on duties that they will perform for OFWs
when the transition has been completed by the end of the Philippine
government’s fiscal year 2023-24.
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That would mean a daunting workload for
the MWO as OFWs make up an overwhelming 191,000 of the 211,000 Filipinos
working or living in Hong Kong.
The remaining 20,000 are dual citizens,
students, and permanent residents whose concerns are far fewer than those of
the OFWs. Add to these the handful of tourists, transients, asylum seekers who
seek consular intervention when they have a run-in with the law.
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Given this, Saret says MWO does need
additional staff to take up all the OFW-related matters currently being handled
by ATN. But as the DMW was not included in the budget for this year, it will
have to make do with the number at hand for now.
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