Unemployment benefit bill for displaced OFWs filed

abs-cbnNEWS.com

A bill seeking to create an unemployment benefit package worth P50,000 for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) displaced by the global financial crisis has been filed before the House of Representatives.

Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan filed the bill on Monday with Migrante International and some OFWs retrenched in Taiwan.

"This package is the government's way to give back to the OFWs it has relied on and slaved on for the longest time to prop up the economy," Ilagan said.

According to a press statement, the package will be funded by a contingency fund from the national budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

The bill is geared towards providing permanent assistance not only for migrant workers laid off and to be laid off by the current crisis, but also for the OFWs who will lose their jobs after the crisis.

Citing data from DOLE, the group said that more than 4,000 Filipino workers around the world have already lost their jobs and are coming back to the country.

"Aside from providing assistance being the responsibility of the government through its different departments, the OFWs have already paid for their repatriation costs with the exorbitant fees charged to them every time they leave the country, such as the $25 OWWA membership fee," said Ilagan.

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