Displaced OFWs in New Zealand get financial, employment assistance: DMW Jose Carretero, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The Department of Migrant Workers is providing financial assistance to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who lost their jobs in New Zealand last month due to the sudden closure of their employer. DMW Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan said 107 affected Filipino workers have already received 1,050 New Zealand dollars (around P36,000) with another 72 set to receive the same. Assistance will also be processed for 345 other displaced Filipino workers. “Yung DMW po very proactive yung stance dito. You know pa dati nangyari na po ito sa [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] so agad agad nakipag-ugnayan tayo sa counterpart natin — yung [Migrant Workers Office] natin nakatutok," she said. "Hindi lang po 'yan 'yung financial na assistance is just one thing — ang importante po sa kababayan natin ay magkaroon pa rin sila ng trabaho diyan sa New Zealand,” she said. EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS FOR DISPLACED OFWS She said that "several employers" have reached out to the MWO saying they are interested to hire the displaced Filipino workers. "So kami naman po kung ganyan kaganda yung intention ng employer sa New Zealand, ipa-facilitate po namin yan lalo na kung makakatulong na magkakaroon ng trabaho doon,” she said. The MWO in New Zealand has also reached out to various employers in the country to accommodate the displaced Filipino workers. Around 700 workers were laid off after ELE, a skilled labor agency in construction and manufacturing suddenly closed shop, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said in a related statement. "We don't want a repeat of what happened to our kababayans who were laid off in Saudi Arabia and remain waiting to get their pay and other receivables ," he said. Although the employment agency promised to pay the displaced Filipino workers what they are owed, it is unclear when that will happen, Villanueva said. DFA ALSO PROVIDING ASSISTANCE The Department of Foreign Affairs is also assisting around 100 other Filipinos who are already residents of New Zealand, DMW Undersecretary Caunan also said. "Mga Filipino po, pero residente na diyan, so ang DFA na po ang may hawak po doon sa concerns nila. So kung ito-total niyo po, mga around 624," she said. The agency is also checking whether any of the affected OFWs need assistance to return to the Philippines, but Caunan said that most Filipinos in New Zealand moved there with their families already.

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