The measure creating the Department of Overseas Filipinos (DOFIL) is set to be sponsored for Senate approval within the week, said Senator Joel Villanueva.

The chairperson of the Senate labor committee disclosed on Monday, May 24, that senators have agreed on proposed amendments to the proposal during a meeting.

The committee report would only need to “undergo some more finetuning” before it is brought to the Senate floor for debates, Villanueva said in a statement.

“Instead of introducing these on the floor, the decision was to make them part of the committee report to expedite the process. We expect to sponsor the measure in the plenary within this week,” he said, thanking his colleagues for the inputs.

“If kinks can be ironed out early, then the faster the bill can move towards approval,” he added.

Villanueva admitted that there are "complex issues" to the creation of a new agency whose proposed mandates are being shouldered at present by multiple agencies.

There will be birth pains, the senator said.

“Ang gusto po natin na committee report ay yung tumataguyod sa interes ng mga kababayang OFWs at lahat ng Pilipino sa labas ng bansa (What we want is a committee report that would uphold the interest of our overseas Filipino workers and all Filipinos outside the country),” he vowed.

Villanueva also maintained that the consolidated bill seeks not to encourage migration for work, "but to address the plight of overseas Filipinos, especially our OFWs."