OFW benefits distributed in 2016 reach more than P132M — OWWA

Almost all legal cases and Requests for Assistance (RFAs) reported to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in 2016 were resolved within 6 days from filing or within the 30- day mandatory period.
OWWA, in a report on Thursday, stated that it settled 91 percent or  5,067 out of 5,382 cases it received from January to November 2016 and 5,273 of 5,557 RFAs in the same period within the prescribed time limit.
These cases spanned from contract violations/substitutions, non-payment of wages and overtime pay, payment of end-of-service benefits, to mistreatment, maltreatment, poor living condition, and retrieval of passport and/or travel documents.
Monetary benefits granted to 5,671 OFWs by the OWWA in the 11-month period reached P132,919,057.20.
In a statement, OWWA Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac said the  implementation of the Single Entry Approach Program during this period helped eradicate the "turu-turuan" system that slowed down government response to OFW complaints.
The "turu-turuan" system refers to the system where "complaining OFWs are being referred from one office to another", a method which Cacdac believed was "detrimental to the interest of the public."
Cacdac said: “Urgency is  always the order of the day in OWWA” and stressed that the agency will continue to improve their services to OFWs.
The reports prepared by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board were submitted to Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello lll on December 14, 2016. — BAP, GMA News

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