President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed his adviser for overseas Filipino workers and Muslim Concerns Abdullah “Dabs” Mama-o as the secretary of Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
Mama-o’s appointment will be short-lived since President Duterte’s six-year term will end in June 2022, but his leadership is crucial during the next three months to set the ball rolling for the two-year transition period set forth by Congress to set up the DMW.
RELATED STORY: Go calls for uninterrupted services to OFWs as Department of Migrant Workers is set up
The DMW shall bring together under one roof all agencies or sub-agencies mandated to protect and service OFW matters such as the DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs, DOLE’s Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration and it shall start to function in full swing in 2023 after Congress approves the allocation of its budget next year.
A copy of the appointment paper signed by President Duterte showed that Mama-o’s appointment papers is dated March 4 which is nearly a month after the Migrant Workers Act that created the DMW took effect.
“Pursuant to the provisions of Section 16, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution and existing laws, you are hereby appointed ad interim Secretary, Department of Migrant Workers. By virtue hereof, you may qualify and enter upon the performance of the duties of the office, furnishing this Office and the Civil Service Commission with copies of your oath of office,” the appointment said.
READ ON: POLOs to be converted to new ‘Migrant Workers Office’
Mama-o is a former classmate of Duterte in San Beda College of Law and in 2019, Duterte was seen attending the wedding of Mama-o’s son Mohedin.
Apart from his function as the presidential adviser for OFWs, he was appointed as special envoy to Kuwait in 2018 at the height of the diplomatic row between Manila and Kuwait and in 2016 he headed the Philippine delegation to Saudi Arabia that negotiated for the repatriation of 11,000 stranded OFWs in work camps in Al Khobar, Riyadh and Jeddah.
