‘Star for All Season’ and Batangas Representative Vilma Santos-Recto has showed her full support on the creation of an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) department.
Santos-Recto said her manifestation of support during the hearing of the House Committee on Overseas Affairs and Government Reorganization on Tuesday.
The actress-turned lawmaker has portrayed the role of an OFW in several movies like ‘Anak’ and ‘In My Life’.
“It’s time a specific department is created to focus on OFWs,” Santo-Recto said.
The proposed bill will integrate the functions of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB), Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA), and other government agencies with mandate related to OFWs under one department.
President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated his call for an OFW Department during his 4th State of the Nation Address.
Senator Bong Go also filed the bill at the Senate creating the same department. Duterte wants the OFW department before the end of 2019.