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Official Publication of the Philippine Information Agency Bicol Regional Office, in cooperation with the RIAC-REDIRAS - RDC Bicol



Monday, February 24, 2014

DOLE attached bureaus converge to assist OFWs, dependents

BY: SALLY A. ATENTO

LEGAZPI CITY, Feb 24 (PIA) – Four government agencies join hands to better serve Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their dependents.

The convergence program is implemented by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) together with its attached agencies, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Technical Education and Skills development Authority (TESDA).

The convergence of these agencies aims to further assist migrant workers in their dependents in terms of livelihood assistance, information dissemination, and skills development.

OWWA is tasked to implement programs to provide livelihood assistance and alternative sources of income to distressed and repatriated OFWs.

In line with this program, OWWA Bicol director Jocelyn Hapal said their office is currently accepting applicants for the OFW Dependents Scholarship Program (ODSP) for academic school year 2014-2015.

Hapal said studies show that one of the top reasons of OFWs for working abroad is to send their children or sibling to college.

“At OWWA, we help in fulfilling that dream, particularly of the low-salaried household and skilled workers abroad,” she said.

POEA on the other hand is currently conducting intensified information dissemination programs to effectively counter illegal recruitment and trafficking.

Programs on enhancing technical skills of both OFWs and their dependents are also done by the TESDA.

Meanwhile DOLE will focus on implementing a national program aimed at assisting returning OFWs to be reintegrated back to the social and economic mainstreams.

Part of this program is the Balik-Pinas, Balik Hanapbuhay Livelihood Assistance Program jointly implemented by the DOLE and OWWA.

“The OWWA institutionalized a safety net program for the many OFWs who end up displaced because of civil unrest, calamities, illnesses, maltreatment, and a host of other reasons. The Balik-Pinas, Balik Hanapbuhay Program aims to give displaced OFWs with a means to start over again immediately with their own small enterprise, to mitigate the loss of primary source of income,” Hapal further explained. (MAL/SAA/PIA5-Albay/OWWA5)

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