Social welfare attachés ng PHL sa ibang bansa, dapat dagdagan


Panahon na para magtalaga ng karagdagang social welfare attachés sa abroad, sa gitna ng mga ulat tungkol sa tumataas na bilang ng insidente ng pang-aabuso sa mga OFWs, ayon sa isang senador.
 
Sa katatapos na pagdinig sa Senado ng sex-for-flight isyu, nabatid na "pilay" ang mga tauhan ng DFA, DOLE, at OWWA na nakatalaga sa 92 foreign posts at hindi lubos na natutukan ang mga pangangailangan ng mga manggagawa abroad.
 
Naniniwala si Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto na makatutulong ang pagpapadala ng trained government personnel na susuporta sa OFWs.
 
 “Our posts have the competency to make legal representations or attend to labor matters but there is a reported big gap when it comes to comforting Filipinos in distress,” ani Recto sa kaniyang press statement ngayon.
 
Aniya, ang professional social workers at trained counselors ang angkop na personnel na sasaklolo sa OFWs na nagdaranas ng epekto ng mga pang-aabuso mula sa kanilang amo o host community.
 
Wala din aniyang nakatalagang  personnel sa isang embahada pagdating sa intensibong therapeutic counseling sa mga biktima ng pang-aabuso o stress debriefing sa mga nakararanas ng trauma.

Tinukoy pa ng senador na pinayagan ang pagtatalaga ng social welfare attachés (SWAs) sa piling mga diplomatic post noong Pebrero 2004, nang ipalabas ang Executive Order 287.
 
“Among the first countries to which SWAs were sent was Malaysia, after it expelled Filipinos by the thousand from 2000 to 2010,” ani Recto.
 
Sa ngayon aniya, inaprubahan na ng Department of Budget and Management (DBM) ang paglikha ng six SWA positions, na ang rank and pay nito ay katumbas ng  Social Welfare Officer IV.
 
Itatalaga ang mga ito sa Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jeddah, Hong Kong, South Korea at Qatar.
 
Una nang naglagay ng SWAs sa “OFW heavy” cities ng Amman, Jordan at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
 
Sa 2002 report ng DFA missions, nasa 1,272 Filipinos ang nakakulong sa 42 mg bansa; 776 ay mga lalaki at 446 ay mga babae.

Ani Recto, may umiiral  na limitasyon sa budget sa pagkuha at pagtatalaga ng SWAs.

“One possible funding source is “reasonable adjustments” in the proposed P5.4 billion “operating cost and administrative overhead” of  DWSD’s P62.6 billion Conditional  Cash Transfer program in 2014,” ayon kay Recto.
 
”If we can save a little from these expenses, then we can rechannel "savings" to the deployment of more social welfare attaches,” dagdag pa ng senador.  — Linda Bohol /LBG, GMA News

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