Displaced OFWs from Mindanao get P2.7M gift from Arroyo
MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo handed out a total of 33 checks worth P2.7-million to displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Mindanao as a way to help them rebuild their lives as entrepreneurs.
Of the 33, two checks worth P313,500 went to displaced OFWs from Lanao del Norte under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating mga Disadvantaged Workers (Tupad) project, Malacañang said in a statement.
During Arroyo’s Thursday visit to Cagayan de Oro, she handed out another check amounting to P573,000 to jobless residents from Lanao del Norte under the government’s Integrated Services for Livelihood Assistance for Marginalized Fisherfolk.
The remaining 30 checks worth P50,000 each were distributed to OFWs from Davao, Northern Mindanao and the Caraga region. Ten OFWs were selected from the three regions.
Aside from the livelihood package, Arroyo also handed out a number of PGMA Scholarship Program vouchers to retrain displaced OFWs in Mindanao.
The President also took time to observe the skills demonstrations in welding, scaffolding and heavy equipment operation. About 15,000 job items awaited the more than 2,000 jobseekers who trooped to the one-day event, Malacañang added.
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said that 5,400 OFWs had returned home since October 2008 as casualties of the global economic crisis.
Most of the workers were laid off from Taiwan and the Middle East. But Roque said that the mass layoffs affecting OFWs appeared to have slowed down in January and February.
Roque noted that four months after the first batch of OFWs returned home as some factories closed shop due to the US-led economic crisis, the firings have stopped.
Taiwan, one of the hardest-hit in export dependent countries in Asia and which fired the bulk of some 5,404 retrenched OFWs, has not been terminating workers for quite some time now.
South Korea, another export-dependent country, had only sent home less than a hundred OFWs in recent weeks. Roque said this was because the Philippine government responded early and found new jobs for 2,000 OFWs laid off in Korea.
The Philippine government has earmarked P1-billion to help the victims of the global economic crisis get back on their feet.
The Labor department is the lead agency in carrying out the standby fund for all Filipino migrants displaced by the economic crisis.
The first component of the program is the support fund financed by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and other government lending institutions for laid off OFWs to help them start up their own businesses or finance further studies and training.
Aside from the assistance fund, Arroyo said they would tap the laid off OFWs to become trainers of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV
Of the 33, two checks worth P313,500 went to displaced OFWs from Lanao del Norte under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating mga Disadvantaged Workers (Tupad) project, Malacañang said in a statement.
During Arroyo’s Thursday visit to Cagayan de Oro, she handed out another check amounting to P573,000 to jobless residents from Lanao del Norte under the government’s Integrated Services for Livelihood Assistance for Marginalized Fisherfolk.
The remaining 30 checks worth P50,000 each were distributed to OFWs from Davao, Northern Mindanao and the Caraga region. Ten OFWs were selected from the three regions.
Aside from the livelihood package, Arroyo also handed out a number of PGMA Scholarship Program vouchers to retrain displaced OFWs in Mindanao.
The President also took time to observe the skills demonstrations in welding, scaffolding and heavy equipment operation. About 15,000 job items awaited the more than 2,000 jobseekers who trooped to the one-day event, Malacañang added.
Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said that 5,400 OFWs had returned home since October 2008 as casualties of the global economic crisis.
Most of the workers were laid off from Taiwan and the Middle East. But Roque said that the mass layoffs affecting OFWs appeared to have slowed down in January and February.
Roque noted that four months after the first batch of OFWs returned home as some factories closed shop due to the US-led economic crisis, the firings have stopped.
Taiwan, one of the hardest-hit in export dependent countries in Asia and which fired the bulk of some 5,404 retrenched OFWs, has not been terminating workers for quite some time now.
South Korea, another export-dependent country, had only sent home less than a hundred OFWs in recent weeks. Roque said this was because the Philippine government responded early and found new jobs for 2,000 OFWs laid off in Korea.
The Philippine government has earmarked P1-billion to help the victims of the global economic crisis get back on their feet.
The Labor department is the lead agency in carrying out the standby fund for all Filipino migrants displaced by the economic crisis.
The first component of the program is the support fund financed by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and other government lending institutions for laid off OFWs to help them start up their own businesses or finance further studies and training.
Aside from the assistance fund, Arroyo said they would tap the laid off OFWs to become trainers of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). - Mark Joseph Ubalde, GMANews.TV
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