Two house committees have approved the consolidated proposal to create the Department of Filipinos Overseas and Foreign Employment.
The bill envisions to protect and ensure the safety of OFWs, seafarers and household service workers (HSWs).
Albay Representative Joey Salceda headed the technical working group to consolidate the 39 bills seeking to create an OFW department.
It took almost three hours of deliberations for the panel to approve the bill.
“The bill is about the dignity of labor whether here and abroad. It is all about engaging, employing, and enhancing the dignity of Filipino labor,” Salceda said in a statement.
The lawmaker also cited the contribution of OFWs, which accounts for $32 billion dollars annually.
“The proposed creation of the DFO is an act of social justice, nothing more, nothing less,” Salceda stressed.
Under the bill, several government agencies dealing with OFWs, distressed workers abroad and Filipino communities would be put under one department.
The bill also proposed that the department focuses on OFW families and give them the necessary assistance needed.
President Rodrigo Duterte said he wants the OFW department created by year-end
