Migrants group endorses Roque as permanent DoLE chief
MANILA, Philippines - An advocacy group for migrant workers’ concerns on Monday expressed its preference for Marianito Roque to become permanent secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment, replacing Arturo Brion who was recently appointed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.
“Kung ang sektor namin ang tatanungin, mabuti para sa amin dahil kapang-kapa n'ya ang migrant sector," said Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrants Advocacy, in an interview by phone.
Sana said her group is optimistic that Roque will give more attention to the protection and welfare of overseas Filipino workers and their families, and, at the same time, create more viable and decent local job opportunities.
“Siguro on the issue of migration, he (Roque) is a good choice, alam n'ya ‘yan kasi he rose from the ranks (OWWA). Kaya lang siguro kung ikaw ay lokal na manggagawa baka magkaroon ka ng concern kasi baka ang maging concentration n'ya lang ay overseas issues," Sana explained.
In his brief biography posted at the website of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, it said that in 1976, Roque briefly joined the Overseas Employment Development Board (OEDB), the forerunner of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), where he started out as a statistician and planning officer.
He held the position for two years before he became employment marketing officer.
With the establishment of the OWWA in 1982, he was named technical assistant to the OWWA administrator and concurrent head of the agency's resources management unit.
From 1986 to March 2004, he held the post of OWWA director, and briefly held the post of deputy administrator until President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed him OWWA chief on September 1, 2004 until the present.
Sana said that although her group has a lot of questions on some policies of the DoLE even before Roque took over its helm, she said she wanted to give Roque the benefit of the doubt in leading the labor department.
“Usually ang nangyayari kapag nag-assume na sila ng position there is tendency na magturo kapag may mga maling policy at sasabihin na nangyari 'yun before his assumption of duty…na for me is not acceptable. Hindi dapat nawawala ang accountability at dapat may continuity," she said.
Sana added she expects Roque’s leadership will concentrate on creating more decent job locally and not encourage more overseas deployment.
Recently, Roque claimed that the country could deploy 300,000 overseas workers to Saudi Arabia and the number of Filipino workers in the Middle Eastern country could reach 1.8 million this year.
“Ang totoo ang over one million yearly target ng government to deploy OFWs ay nagawa na nila since 2005 and that should be a cause for alarm. Kasi ang trend habang lumalaki ang remittances (pero) ang kabuhayan naman ng mga mahihirap hindi nagbabago. Meaning, hindi nakikinabang ang mahihirap maging ang karaniwang OFWs sa remittances," Sana noted.
She said that under Roque’s leadership, Sana is hopeful that the government can create an effective reintegration program for migrant workers and families. - GMANews.TV
“Kung ang sektor namin ang tatanungin, mabuti para sa amin dahil kapang-kapa n'ya ang migrant sector," said Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrants Advocacy, in an interview by phone.
Sana said her group is optimistic that Roque will give more attention to the protection and welfare of overseas Filipino workers and their families, and, at the same time, create more viable and decent local job opportunities.
“Siguro on the issue of migration, he (Roque) is a good choice, alam n'ya ‘yan kasi he rose from the ranks (OWWA). Kaya lang siguro kung ikaw ay lokal na manggagawa baka magkaroon ka ng concern kasi baka ang maging concentration n'ya lang ay overseas issues," Sana explained.
In his brief biography posted at the website of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, it said that in 1976, Roque briefly joined the Overseas Employment Development Board (OEDB), the forerunner of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), where he started out as a statistician and planning officer.
He held the position for two years before he became employment marketing officer.
With the establishment of the OWWA in 1982, he was named technical assistant to the OWWA administrator and concurrent head of the agency's resources management unit.
From 1986 to March 2004, he held the post of OWWA director, and briefly held the post of deputy administrator until President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed him OWWA chief on September 1, 2004 until the present.
Sana said that although her group has a lot of questions on some policies of the DoLE even before Roque took over its helm, she said she wanted to give Roque the benefit of the doubt in leading the labor department.
“Usually ang nangyayari kapag nag-assume na sila ng position there is tendency na magturo kapag may mga maling policy at sasabihin na nangyari 'yun before his assumption of duty…na for me is not acceptable. Hindi dapat nawawala ang accountability at dapat may continuity," she said.
Sana added she expects Roque’s leadership will concentrate on creating more decent job locally and not encourage more overseas deployment.
Recently, Roque claimed that the country could deploy 300,000 overseas workers to Saudi Arabia and the number of Filipino workers in the Middle Eastern country could reach 1.8 million this year.
“Ang totoo ang over one million yearly target ng government to deploy OFWs ay nagawa na nila since 2005 and that should be a cause for alarm. Kasi ang trend habang lumalaki ang remittances (pero) ang kabuhayan naman ng mga mahihirap hindi nagbabago. Meaning, hindi nakikinabang ang mahihirap maging ang karaniwang OFWs sa remittances," Sana noted.
She said that under Roque’s leadership, Sana is hopeful that the government can create an effective reintegration program for migrant workers and families. - GMANews.TV
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