AL AIN: While most are already on a holiday mode, packing up for a sojourn in the snow elsewhere, the Philippine Embassy conducted a weekend outreach mission in remote Al Ain, some two hours away from the capital city of Abu Dhabi by car, to provide a range of services to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the area.
The 16-member team, led by Asst. Labor Attaché and Officer-in-Charge Jay Jasper B. Javines, held the community service at a hotel where hundreds of OFWs showed up to have employment contracts verified, in the case of those who arrived on a visit visa and found a job; undergo Post-Arrival Orientation Seminar (POAS); as well as get advice and labor counseling.
Other OFWs went to verify concerns about their social security file, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration-related issues (OWWA) as well as Pag-Ibig contributions.
The mission was held 8am to 2pm on Dec. 15; the team members said they could have provided service to more had circumstances allowed longer session hours. The team, officers and staff of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Abu Dhabi, will have a similar activity on Dec. 22 at the Ruwais Hospital Auditorium in Rawais.
Had there been no weekend outreach mission, OFWs in Al Ain would have to spend some Dh20 going by bus to the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi; Dh100 on a taxi; or about Dh40 on car pool.
