Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello has revealed that the Labor Department has finished crafting the bill which will create a department solely intended for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
Bello said that the draft bill was transmitted to Malacanang last Friday.
“We have been mandated by the Cabinet to come up with our own bill for the creation for the OFW department and we have already done that,” Bello said in an interview.
The proposed bill will integrate the functions of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB), Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO), Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA), and other government agencies with mandate related to OFWs under one department.
President Rodrigo Duterte reiterated his call for an OFW Department during his 4th State Of the Nation Address.
Senator Bong Go also filed the bill at the Senate creating the same department.
Duterte wants the OFW department up before the end of 2019.
