Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and two other senators have thrown their support behind the proposed creation of Department of Overseas Filipinos (DOFil) that would cater to the needs of 10 million overseas Filipinos.

Aside from Senators Joel Villanueva and Ronald ‘’Bato’’ dela Rosa, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles also supported the DOFil measure authored by Senator Christopher ‘’Bong’’ Go.

The bill was taken up Monday by the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment, joint with Committees on Foreign Relations, Civil Service, and Finance.

Zubiri said that the government needs to provide more support for overseas Filipinos.

“Batid natin ang napakalaking tulong ng ating nga kababayan na nakikipagsapalaran sa ibang bansa (We know the big contribution of our countrymen who are working abroad). We are not doing enough to protect them,” he said.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the proposed DOFil will “streamline and directly manage all concerns of Filipinos overseas plus their families and dependents in the Philippines to make our services to OFs more responsive, efficient, and effective.

“It will avoid overlapping functions and consolidate the budgetary allocations to a single public entity for a better and more efficient service to OFs and their families,” Nograles further explained during the hearing. 

Nograles lamented that “the absence of a single agency to address these concerns is making it very challenging for the government to focus on the various needs and demands of Filipinos overseas.”

Bello also said that the DOLE fully supports the creation of the DOFil.

Villanueva, who presided the Senate hearing, also expressed his support for the creation of the department, citing the sheer number of overseas Filipinos and their contribution to the economy. 

"Noong 2019, umabot po ng P1.56 trillion ang kabuuang cash remittances ng mga overseas Filipinos.   Ito ‘yung pinadaan sa bangko at remittance centers (In 2019, cash remittances of overseas Filipino reached P1.56 trillion.  These were remitted through banks and remittance centers,” Villanueva said.

“Mas malaki pa ang halaga kung kasama ang perang personal na inuwi o 'ipinakisuyo' kay kabayang umuwi sa Pilipinas (The amount is bigger when you factor in the personal money and money of their friends abroad that they carried as a personal favor), " he added.  

These facts alone, according to Villanueva, warrant the creation of a department mandated to look after overseas Filipino workers worldwide.

During the hearing, Go issued a strong appeal urging support for the measure amid the struggles overseas Filipinos face caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other crisis situations abroad. 

Senate Bill (SB) 1949 or the ‘Department of Overseas Filipinos Act of 2020’ is the third iteration of a bill he introduced in 2019 and represents the unified position of the Executive branch of government.

The bill has been certified as ‘urgent’ by President Duterte and is also one of the 20 priority measures identified by both chambers of the Congress for 2021. 

Under the proposed measure, the department shall subsume and streamline all responsibilities pertaining to overseas employment and migration that are presently scattered among various departments and agencies. It will be primarily responsible for protecting the rights and promoting the welfare of overseas Filipinos, as well as managing and monitoring their employment abroad and reintegration once they return. 

Notably, SB 1949 also directs the implementation of a one country-team approach which shall require all officials in Philippine diplomatic posts to act together as one team, per country of assignment.