Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara urged the government to deploy more social welfare attachés (SWAs) or “malasakit officers” to Dubai, Qatar, and Hong Kong as the number of the deployed SWAs in the Middle East and Asia are inadequate to the needs of the millions of Filipino workers across the globe.
The senator said the services of the legal experts are not enough to the OFWs since what they need is a psychosocial care especially those victims of trafficking or violence.
“Kung ang isang OFW ay biktima ng sexual abuse, ‘yung pagtulong sa kanila ay nangangailangan ng isang specialist and this is the kind of skill-set that might not be found in the organizational setup of an embassy,” he said.
Angara stressed the presence of SWA should be integrated and made permanent in an embassy.
