The Philippine Overseas Labor Office – Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) in Abu Dhabi initiated an outreach service for OFWs in Al Ain last October 29, providing services for over 1,000 overseas Filipino workers.
POLO-OWWA Abu Dhabi hosted this satellite service at the NMC Specialty Hospital in Al Ain, where they gave assistance to over a thousand OFWs who intended to get their documents sorted out – a majority of whom were planning to reunite with their families in time for Christmas.
In an exclusive interview with The Filipino Times, Labor Attaché Atty. Manuel Dimaano said that this was in anticipation of the influx of services that they expect for the last two months of the year – especially ahead of the holidays.
“Based on our projection and experience, we expect a huge demand for POLO services in the remaining months of the last quarter of the year, hence, we deemed it proper to conduct another special weekend service to somehow reduce that demand and facilitate the delivery of services to our clients at the labor office,” said Atty. Dimaano.
In total, the numbers of OFWs who were assisted with their inquiries and had their documents processed were 1,229.
Out of this, 330 OFWs had their employment contracts successfully verified; 27 OEC issued; 297 renewed their OWWA membership; 200 paid their SSS contributions and 215 availed of Pag-Ibig Fund services or a total of 1,069. The rest of the 160 processes were either simple inquiries or those whose papers were unprocessed due to lack of requirements.
The eight-hour weekend service was conducted in coordination with the Philippine Embassy in the UAE, and in collaboration with the Bayanihan Council and FilCom Al Ain.
Atty. Dimaano likewise took the opportunity to thank local officials and Filipino community leaders who helped the POLO-OWWA reach out to OFWs in Al Ain.
“This special service is one of POLO Abu Dhabi’s programmed activities on Community Engagement and Employment Regulation Services aimed to make the PH government programs and services accessible to OFWs. And it’s our commitment to achieve this objective by bringing the services closer to our OFWs, especially to those in distant places, and at their most convenient time,” said Atty. Dimaano.
POLO-OWWA provided the following services for Al Ain residents on October 29:
– Contract Verification;
– Counseling;
– OWWA membership;
– Overseas Employment Certificate issuance/processing; and
– SSS and Pag-Ibig Fund
