Philippine Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III has reiterated the call for an inter-agency collaboration on streamlining reintegration programs for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
He urged all government sectors to attract more OFWs into going home by establishing sufficient jobs and business opportunities across the country.
“I call on local governments to make each province, city, and municipality a haven to go back to. We must turn the Philippines into an environment conducive to OFW return,” Bello said at a summit that aims to draw plans on cohesive reintegration of OFWs, which held on August 31 at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Bello said government agencies must find ways to reverse labor export policy and utilize homegrown talents and expertise.
He added that OFWs, who return to the Philippines because of crises, disasters and wars in their host countries, should be able to benefit from the country’s continued economic growth and improved domestic wages.
The summit, which concludes the sectoral and island-wide consultations for the implementation of the Enhancing Reintegration Program for OFWs, gathered officers from DOLE, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The consultations drafted measures of the National Reintegration Summit Declaration that will symbolize the country’s call for the government, private, and civil society sectors to jointly initiate appropriate policy reforms, distinguish reintegration services responsive to the needs of OFWs, and improve reintegration programs. (Angeli Cantillana)
