By Vanne Terrazola
Senators said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should focus on assisting displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) instead of cracking down on their anti-government social media posts amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senate of the Philippines building (Senate of the Philippines official Facebook)
Senator Joel Villanueva, chair of the Senate committee on labor, was not happy with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office's (POLO) request for the deportation of a Filipina worker in Taiwan for her "nasty and malevolent" posts against President Duterte on Facebook.
He compared it against the DOLE's accomplishment with its Abot-Kamay at Pagtulong (AKAP) program for the OFWs displaced by the novel coronavirus outbreak.
" Overkill. Unfortunately, in the latest Bayanihan Report submitted yesterday, DOLE's AKAP program for our OFWs only 15.1 percent of the target (beneficiaries) have been served. Total budget is P1.5 billion Ang baba masyado utilization rate (Their utilization rate is too low)," Villanueva said in a text message to the Manila Bulletin on Tuesday.
According to President Duterte's Apriil 27 report to Congress on the rollout of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, the DOLE has served only 20,500 OFWs of the 135,720 target beneficiaries for the one-time, P10,000 cash assistance program as of April 23. The utilized amount was P205 million.
"Clearly shows misplaced ang priorities (This clearly show their priorities are misplaced). POLO should be right now prioritizing the distribution of the government's relief to OFWs affected by COVID-19," Villanueva said.
"Handing the cash assistance to OFW and addressing their concerns take precedence over trivial matters such as cracking down on critics of the government," he added.
Opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros also shared the sentiment, saying that the POLO should concentrate on responding to the abuses of OFWs by their employers abroad.
"Mas kailangang solusyonan ng POLO ang kapakanan ng mga OFWs sa gitna ng COVID-19 at panggigipit sa trabaho. Huwag ganito (The POLOs should find solutions for the welfare our OFWs, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak and threats on their employment. This is not the way forward)," Hontiveros said on her official Facebook page Monday.
Hontiveros said the DOLE should review the policies for deportation and the mandate of the POLOs.
"At ito ay ang pagtuunan ng pansin ang mga problemang kinahakarap ng mga kababayan natin OFWs, lalo na sa panahon ng crisis (And this is focus on the problems faced by our OFWs, especially during this crisis)," she said.
Elanel Egot Ordidor, according to the DOLE, allegedly committed cyber libel for criticizing the President Duterte and using multiple accounts in a supposed attempt to destabliize the Philippine government.
Backing the deportation request, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the constitutional right to freedom of expression has limitations.
Bello said it is up to Taiwan to decide whether or not to deport Ordidor.