Two government agencies that currently handle Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) concerns will be streamlined into one department should the proposed creation of a Department of OFW pushes through.
Senator Bong Go, the proponent of the said bill in the Senate said that functions of Overseas Workerrs Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) will be transferred to the proposed OFW department.
The department will also absorb the functions of other government agencies like Department of Foreign Affairs – Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OUMWA), Commission on Filipino Overseas, and International Labor Affairs Bureau.
“This legislative measure proposes the establishment of a Department of Overseas Filipinos to serve as the umbrella agency to specifically address all the issues and concerns of Filipinos abroad and their families,” Go said in a statement.
President Rodrigo Duterte hopes to establish the OFW department by December.
