President Rodrigo Duterte has certified the bill creating the proposed Department of Overseas Filipinos as urgent.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that certifying the measures as urgent will provide a more efficient, whole-of-government approach to protect the rights and promote the welfare and interest of overseas Filipinos.
Duterte has been vocal on his promise to create a separate department for OFWs.
The bill has been pending in the Senate and is now up for plenary debates.
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The Budget Department said that around 1.1 billion is needed to create the new department.
Earlier, Senator Imee Marcos hit the turf war among government agencies resulting in the delay in the passage of the Department of Overseas FIlipinos.
“There’s a turf war going on, involving mandates and budgets. Senators on both sides of the political fence are willing to approve what President Duterte has certified as urgent, but the DOLE, DFA, and DSWD must be willing to let go of certain attached agencies,” Marcos said in a statement.
“We hear the clamor of our OFWs who are hoping for a one-stop shop, not a merry-go-round of redundant offices in various departments and agencies,” she added.
The lady senator said that the organizational chart has been presented to them showing government agencies not willing to let go of their attached agencies.
Marcos said that such attached agencies, she pointed out, can be consolidated in order to serve OFWs better.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration, and Labor Affairs Bureau which are currently under DOLE; the Office of Migrant Workers’ Affairs and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas under the DFA; the International Social Services Office under DSWD; as well as the Office of Muslim Affairs, which is under the Office of the President can all be consolidated to the department.
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“Consolidation means savings that can solve the lack of funding for an honest-to-goodness OFW repatriation program,” she added.
Marcos said that if the turf war among agencies cannot be resolved, she is pushing for the expansion of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and transform it to National Overseas Employment Administration.
“The NOEA will be a less costly option for the government while preserving the institutional knowledge and memory of the POEA – itself a consolidation of the Overseas Employment Development Board, National Seamen Board, and Bureau of Employment Services,” said Marcos.
