The Senate, on a vote of 20-0-0 on Tuesday, Dec, 14, approved on third and final reading a bill creating the Department of Migrant Workers, in a major advance for a legislation the administration has pushed as an urgent measure.
Senator Joel Villanueva, chairman of the Senate labor committee, hailed the passage on third and final reading of Senate Bill (SB) 2234, which organizes the proposed Department of Migrant Workers.
He described the measure as an important and historic piece of legislation and felt blessed being a part of the 24-member Senate that approved it.
‘’This is it,’’ exclaimed Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, a former Labor Secretary, described the passage of the bil as a ‘’major accomplishment, a land mark legislation and one of the more difficult legislation’’ where five long committee hearings were conducted and where all stakeholders are heard.
Drilon said the extensive research done on the bill would make the purpose of the bill achievable.
At present, according to Drilon, Overseas Filipino Workers complain of the lack or uncoordinated services of government.
OFWs are the country’s Unsung Heroes, he emphasized.
In his brief remarks after the plenary vote, Villanueva said the proposed department seeks to be a “dedicated service arm” for 10 million Filipinos overseas who account for 10 percent of the population and whose remittances comprise 12 percent of national income.
“This moment is for every Filipino abroad who has sacrificed so much for their family and our beloved country. This bill is a chance to change for the better the way our OFWs, our modern-day heroes, are recruited, repatriated, and reintegrated,” said Villanueva, principal sponsor and author of Senate Bill No. 2234.
Villanueva said passage of the measure is a good Christmas gif to OFWs.
The department will orchestrate all efforts and policies, which unfortunately have become fragmented, to protect OFWs. With POEA as the backbone, a total of seven offices are consolidated and merged as the Department of Migrant Workers (DFA-OUMWA, POEA, POLO, ILAB, NRCO and NMP under DOLE, and the Office of the Social Welfare Attache of DSWD). The OWWA will be an attached agency of the new department.
Allaying fears that the transfer of agencies to a new department amounts to a mere “lipat-bahay,” Villanueva said the role of each, based on its strengths, is well clarified.
Villanueva expressed gratitude to the different government agencies who serve as front liners to OFW concerns and helped shape the bill to its current form.
While recognizing the “the many and different paths that were taken” during the entirety of the deliberations into the measure, these efforts “will now converge as we establish the Department of Migrant Workers, an agency that is laser focused on OFWs needs and welfare,” he explained.
Villanueva also maintained that the department would help ensure the state policy of not promoting overseas employment.
“We are in unison that it is not the policy of the state to promote overseas employment and it is our common aspiration that Filipinos will migrate or work abroad only out of choice, and not out of necessity,’’ he added.
Senator Risa Hontiveros commended Villanueva for the effort and energy the passage of this bill required.
``‘’I appreciate that this has not been an easy bill -- there were many inputs, suggestions, and objections from different quarters. I am certain of the good intentions of the sponsor, I know he only has the interests of the OFWs at heart,’’ she said.
‘’I thank the good Sponsor for accepting amendments of this representation. Just to highlight a few significant ones. First, the provision that recognizes the rights of overseas Filipino workers regardless of status. Second, the provision ensuring the designation of gender officers in Migrant Workers offices abroad and the conduct of gender audits,’’ she stressed.
‘’While I vote yes to this measure, I would also like to place on record my continuing and enduring position that we should not institutionalize a labor migration policy as a cornerstone economic policy,’’ she added.