Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the creation of the Department of Overseas Filipinos is a top priority of the Duterte administration.
“In terms of priority, DOFIL would be the highest in terms of priority,” Nograles said in a hybrid hearing of the Senate committee on labor, employment, and human resources development on Monday.
The palace official named the proposed agency along with Department of Water and Department of Disaster Resilience.
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“We know that there’s limited time already… So if we were to select which one would get the top priority, DOFIL would be number one,” he furthered.
Allies of the President has filed bills seeking to create an agency that will solely cater to the delivery of government services to Filipinos abroad
The measure aims to streamline the relevant services of various national agencies and ensure the protection and promotion of welfare of OFWs.
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Duterte has twice certified the measure as priority during his 2019 and 2020 State of the Nation Addresses.
Aside from DOFIL, other proposed new agencies were the Department of Water; the Department of Disaster Resilience; the Department of Fisheries; the Department of Sports; the Department of Homeland Security; the Department of Economic Planning; and, the Department of Culture.
All the proposed new departments shall undergo vetting process before being listed in the priority legislations of Duterte administration.
