Senate President Tito Sotto has said that the bill seeking to establish a department for Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs) is expected to be passed before the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.
The creation of the OFW department was part of the plan to assist OFWs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Duterte, whose term ends next year, has vowed to frame a bill to create the Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos (DOFIL).
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Instead of several government agencies for overseas worker welfare, the law to create DOFIL would merge all existing agencies handling migrant workers’ concerns and create a dedicated department to help overseas Filipino workers.
A department that is solely devoted to taking care of our OFWs is expected to attend to their problems quickly.
Sotto in his speech at the 18th Congress on Monday emphasized the commitment to OFWs as well as “funding the government’s pandemic response, assisting families, industries, and sectors hard-hit by the COVID-19 crisis.”
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The Senate opened its third regular session with 14 of its members physically present while another eight attended through a video conference.
Earlier Sotto outlined several following priority measures to be tackled by the Senate including having the Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act. (AW)
