DOLE orders on-site reintegration package for distressed OFWs

Distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East and Asia may be among the first beneficiaries of the Department of Labor and Employment's (DOLE) new massive on-site reintegration package.
 
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said these distressed OFWs in the Filipino Workers' Resource Centers (FWRCs) will be the targets of the intensified reintegration.
 
"We need to think out-of-the-box on how to fast-track the reintegration of our distressed OFWs stranded in various FWRCs in the Middle East," she said in a news release.
 
"We need to assure them that when they come home for good, they will have something to live by in terms of income, which was the reason they went abroad in the first place. It would be best if the reintegration program is brought to them right on-site, in the FWRCs, while they are waiting for their exit visas and plane tickets for home," she added.
 
Baldoz directed her orders to the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs).
 
An initial P10 million has been set aside for such efforts for the second half of 2013.
 
Distressed OFWs
 
The project initially aims to benefit 777 distressed OFWs sheltered at the FWRCs in:
 
- Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Bahrain
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Syria
- Libya
- Qatar
- Oman
- Jordan.
 
There are also 101 distressed OFWs sheltered in six FWRCs in Asia, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Brunei, Taiwan, and South Korea.
 
September arrival
 
Baldoz said she expects the first batch of the 777 distressed OFWs in the Middle East to arrive in the Philippines by September.
 
"With the package of livelihood grant ready under the Balik-Pinay Balik Hanapbuhay Project, we hope for an early Christmas gift for these OFWs," she said.
 
Coordination
 
Baldoz directed labor attaches in the Middle East to coordinate with the Philippine Embassy and the host governments on how to facilitate and fast track the issuance of exit visas for the distressed OFWs.
 
She instructed them to orient the distressed OFWs on the Balik-Pinay Balik Hanapbuhay Project.
 
"You have to already issue certificates of eligibility to these OFWs after orientation and report immediately to the home office the types or nature of livelihood they would want to engage in once they are back so that the NRCO and the OWWA can prepare in advance the package of assistance that fits their needs and deliver this immediately upon their arrival," she said.
 
Also, she ordered the NRCO and the OWWA to simplify the requirements for eligibility to the project, and called for coordination with the POLO.
 
"If the OFWs are already familiar with their proposed income-generating enterprise, or are already skilled, remove the training requirement so they can immediately start earning," she said.
 
Those who request a training, should get training and technical assistance when they are already engaged in their income-generating activities, she said.
 
Reintegration
 
Balik-Pinay Balik Hanap-buhay was institutionalized under DOLE Administrative Order No. 77 in 2011, and gives livelihood grants of P10,000 to returning OFWs.
 
"Priority is given to victims of illegal recruitment and trafficking, and other distressed and displaced household service workers," the DOLE said.
 
Under the Balik-Pinay, Balik-Hanapbuhay Project, returning women OFWs may avail of skills training and grants in the form of business starter kits for such home-based income generating occupations, such as:
 
  • cosmetology
  • haircutting
  • foot spa
  • food processing
  • massage
  • reflexology
  • baking
  • native snack preparation
  • handicraft
  • flower arrangement
  • dress making
  • beauty care
  • pedicure and manicure
 
Business starter kits come in the form of equipment, tools and jigs, raw materials, and small start-up capital.
 
In 2012, NRCO said the reintegration program provided livelihood starter kits and financial assistance amounting to P31 million to 3,846 OFW-beneficiaries.
 
From January to June 2013, the NRCO trained 202 OFWs and provided them with livelihood starter kits worth P1.476 million. - VVP, GMA News

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