DUBAI: Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III attended a jampacked town hall meeting in the evening of Feb 11 at the Philippine Consulate where he, along with Philippine Overseas Employment Administrator Bernard Olalia briefed the Filipino community regarding a range of issues foremost of which include the perennial problem on human trafficking that has been dogging the Philippine government.
Also discussed during a media conference held minutes before the event were efforts by Bello himself to expedite opening of the much-awaited Overseas Filipino Bank, one of the Duterte administration’s flagship project, in Dubai.
The bank, envisioned to be a cooperative of sort operated by overseas Filipino workers themselves, have been hamstrung by a lot of issues and concerns.
The town hall meeting lasted two hours with questions from community leaders mainly focusing on what has been described as the “worsening” human trafficking situation, among others.
The event was held on the sidelines of the annual three-day World Government Summit (WGS) held at the Madinat Jumeirah, Feb. 10 to 12, and attended by over 4,000 decision-makers from 140 countries – including heads of state, ministers and business leaders. The WGs is a global platform dedicated to shaping the future of governments worldwide.
Olalia told the meeting that they have discussed the sticky issues about the deployment of household service workers (HSWs) to the UAE with their local counterparts who, he said, have been receptive and accommodating to their proposals.
Among those present at the town hall meeting were Ambassador Hjayceelyn Quintana, who travelled to Dubai from her embassy office in Abu Dhabi to attend; Consul General Paul Raymund Cortes and spouse, Dr. Yasmin Balajadia-Cortes; Deputy Consul General Renato N. Dueñas, Jr., Consul Beth Ramos and Labor Attachés Felicitas Bay and Alejandro Padaen, among others.
