DOLE sets meet to help OFWs hit by strong peso

The Labor Department has scheduled a multi-sectoral meeting to help overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the strengthening of the peso in recent weeks.

In a statement posted on the Labor Department website, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said the meeting will be held early November.

Brion said they hope to come up with a package of assistance to OFWs adversely affected by the strong peso.

He said this is in line with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's directive to concerned agencies to draw up measures that the government could adopt to assist OFWs and their families.

Brion said the salaries of OFWs onsite remain the same but their equivalent earnings in peso are affected particularly if their earnings overseas are directly in US dollars.

"From more than P52 to the dollar at the start of 2007, the exchange rate is down to the P44 level to the dollar. While the peso's appreciation benefits the economy by enabling the country to pay off its debts at lower cost, it reduces the value of the dollar remittances being sent to the OFWs' families back home," he said.

"In the light of strengthening of the peso, the DOLE would consult with stakeholders on how the affected OFWs could be assisted to mitigate the negative impact of the strong peso and sustain their economic contributions to their families and the country in general," he said.

Brion issued DOLE Administrative Order No. 328, providing for the creation of the DOLE inter-agency committee which would handle the preparation and conduct of the conference.

Heading the committee is Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Administrator Marianito Roque.

Committee members include Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chief Rosalinda Baldoz, DOLE assistant secretary Rebecca Calzado, director Jalio dela Torre of the Bureau of Local Employment, director Teresita Manzala of the National Reintegration Center for OFWs, and deputy executive director Eustacio Enriquez of the Maritime Office.

Undersecretary Luzviminda Padilla will oversee the implementation of the committee's activities. - GMANews.TV

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