Malacañang on Saturday said President Rodrigo Duterte is exhausting all efforts to produce more local jobs for Filipinos, including those who are working overseas.
The message was relayed through Robert Borje, Chief of Presidential Protocol and Presidential Assistant on Foreign Affairs, during a Christmas party with distressed OFWs and Filipino minors held at the Philippine embassy in Manama, Bahrain on Friday, Malacañang said in a press conference.
“In his speech, Chief of Presidential Protocol and Presidential Assistant on Foreign Affairs Robert Borje conveyed the President’s continuing care for OFWs and concern over the need to improve services for Filipinos overseas, particularly those in distress,” Malacañang said.
“Undersecretary Borje, who was appointed Special Envoy of the President to Tunisia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kingdom of Bahrain, said the Duterte administration is doing everything to improve the country’s economy to create more local jobs to Filipinos,” it added.
The President tasked Borje to assess the condition of OFWs in North Africa and the Middle East.
In addition, the president through Borje noted that seeking jobs in other countries should not be a need but a choice for Filipinos.
Moreover, Borje said that Duterte recognized the role of OFWs in nation-building and development, saying they are part of progress not just because of remittances they send home but for their determination to uplift the living conditions of their families in the Philippines.
There are about 2.3 million OFWs worldwide, according to a 2018 survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Remittances sent home by OFWs went up by 4.2 percent to USD2.87 billion in August this year from USD2.76 billion in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earlier reported.
