TIM eMagazine Vol.1 Issue 3
Act Amending R.A. 8042); Administrative Code of
1987 (Executive Order 292); Executive Order 287
series of 2004 (Directing the Deployment/ Posting
of Social Welfare Attachés in Selected Diplomatic
Posts); Executive Order 74, series of 1993 (Directing
the Adoption of the Country-Team Approach in the
Conduct of Development Diplomacy); Executive Order
34, series of 2011 (Creating the Overseas Preparedness
and Response Team); and the DOLE Administrative
Order No. 168 Series of 2013. Note that RA 8042, as
amended by RA 10022, Section 27, mandates that
a country team approach be adopted by all Foreign
Service Posts in the conduct of development diplomacy.
Under the new manual, overseas Filipinos legal and
illegals would get assistance specially if they belong to
those: who acquired their passports through fraud or
misrepresentation; those who possess expired visa or
permits to stay; those who have no travel document
whatsoever; those who have valid but inappropriate
visa; those whose employment contracts were not
processed by the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA) or subsequently verified and
registered on-site by the Philippine Overseas Labor
Office (POLO), if required by law or regulation.
(Section 1 (u), Rule II, Omnibus Rules and Regulations
Implementing RA 8042, as amended by RA 10022);
those who are employed through means that do not
conform to the host country and Philippine labor and
immigration laws.
There will be so-called Joint Assistance Desk (JAD)
established in the premises of embassies and consulates
in foreign posts who will act as a clearance and referral
team. Initially it will assist walk-in overseas Filipinos
in distress in documenting their cases and endorsing
the same either to the Assistance-to-Nationals Unit
(ATNU) if cases are fundamentally criminal in nature
or to the POLO if cases fundamentally arise from an
employer-employee relationship. For complex cases, a
Joint Case Management Team (JCMT) shall handle the
management of complex Overseas Filipino (OF) cases/
issues/ requests for assistance that will be brought to its
attention.
The seafarers were not represented during the formal
launching but offi cials of the Labor Department
assured that they are included in the purview of the
composite team that will operationalize the new
manual.
More OFWs
leaving
PH under
Aquino –
Migrante
ANILA, Philippines – More workers have left the
country for greener pastures abroad under the
administration of Benigno Aquino III, according to
Migrante International. The militant organization cites
data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency
(POEA) that indicates that in 2009, 2,500 Filipinos
left on average per day to work overseas. The group
compared this to the Department of Labor’s (DOLE)
latest information that shows 6,092 workers have left
per day, so far. (READ: Aquino: 440,000 OFWs came
home, unemployment lower) It is important to note,
however, that the year has not yet ended – and the data
is coming from two different government agencies.
Aquino discussed his achievements in his final State
of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 27. He said
that the number of overseas Filipino workers had been
reduced from 9.51 million in 2011 to 9.07 million in
20 14. This would mean that 440,000 Filipinos have
come home and absorbed by the local job market,
according to Aquino. The figure represents a 4%
reduction in the number of Filipino workers abroad.
Migrante disputes these claims. The group claimed that
the number of OFWs deployed far outpaced the jobs
generated domestically. Citing a Philippine Statistics
Authority (PSA) report, it said the number of locally
employed Filipinos was only 1.02 million in 2014, or
an average of 2,805 additional employed in the country
daily.
“If the government is attributing a so called ‘reverse
migration’ due to these factors, then it is right on spot,”
Sol Pillas, Migrante International secretary-general
said. Pillas added: “Since 2010, thousands upon
thousands of OFWs in distress have been deported
or forcibly repatriated back to the country due to civil
unrests.
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