OFW Forum
President Duterte’s signing on Dec. 29 of a law that created the Department of Migrant Workers brought lots of joy and hope to advocates of the rights and welfare of overseas Filipino workers, notably Eli Mua in Saudi Arabia.
Hope that after more than 50 years of deploying workers to the Middle East, the quality and speed of government response to problems of distressed OFWs in that region will improve substantially.
Hope that after over 50 years of overseas OFW deployments, different OFW-related agencies will coordinate properly their actions and move towards one direction in effective response to the plight of distressed and maltreated OFWs.
Hope that treatment of many Filipino women as virtual slaves and animals in many parts of the Middle East will finally end.
Hope that government will provide substance to its oft-repeated and abused accolade of OFWs as “modern heroes of the land.”
But are these hopes and expectations rooted firmly on solid ground?
Or are they merely palliatives or “pakunswelo de bobo” to the pains – physical and mental – that continue to be inflicted on countless Filipino women across the Middle East?
From where I sit, I can’t help but draw this conclusion based on a critical observation of the current government’s track record in setting up impressive looking projects for OFWs but which subsequently turn out to be more duds than genuinely useful and practical for their intended beneficiaries.
Cases in point are the OFW Bank, set up in 2018, the OFW Hospital now being constructed in San Fernando, Pampanga and the DOLE OFW e-card launched in November 2018.
If they’re intended more to impress than for their practical and functional use by OFWs, the inevitable conclusion is they’re more duds than anything else.
Take for instance the OFW Bank under the aegis of the government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines. Does it bring real value to OFWs? Or is it mainly for show with its OFW corporate name? What makes it more functional and helpful than the likes of BDO, BPI, Metrobank and other large and medium size banks?
And the OFW Hospital? Was the choice of location in Pampanga due more to political than practical OFW considerations? Why set up a far-from-inclusive OFW Hospital that will mostly benefit residents of Pampanga and nearby provinces while depriving OFWs from the Visayas, Mindanao and Bicol provinces?
Why didn’t proponents of the OFW Hospital simply come up with a far more inclusive, sensible and useful accreditation scheme in which qualified OFWs (and even immediate family members) enjoy significantly discounted rates for various medical services in select or major hospitals across the country? A far greater number of OFWs will certainly benefit from this accreditation scheme instead of forcing OFWs in the Visayas and Mindanao to fly all the way to Manila and travel for up to five hours to reach the OFW Hospital.
Presumably but clearly, shoddy, insensitive and careless planning went into these high-profile projects. Shortly after a major bank obtained the contract to issue i-DOLE OFW e-card in mid or late 2017, this plastic conveniently faded into oblivion. Why?
So, what’s really next after President Duterte signed a law creating a dedicated agency for OFWs?
While most OFW rights advocates are hopeful, huge challenges face the new agency before it becomes fully functional. First and foremost are the intra-agency political intramurals relating to which personalities and government agencies will spearhead the new department. Clearly, political allies of President Duterte enjoy a big edge if he or his advisers on OFW affairs appoint the new department’s most senior officials.
Can career labor civil servants sway in their favor decision-making on appointments? This appears unlikely, but they can always try.
A very vital and critical issue in appointments is whether or not fogies or old-timers are to be given posts in the new department on the basis of their extended tenures. Or is there more merit in recruiting young, energetic and idealistic people who are likely to be more dedicated to public service, more efficient, professional and productive than old-timers who are best retired than be asked to respond and meet the mounting challenges buffeting OFWs, especially those in the Middle East.
The political intramurals behind the scene away from prying public eyes must be underway by now as relevant labor officials jockey for plum posts in the newly-created department even as scores exert frenetic efforts to stave off redundancies and loss of jobs when key appointments start.
Which OFW agencies will be retained and which ones are to be deleted as redundant is another ticklish and messy issue that needs to be sorted out.
Next column . . . Most pressing issues that OFW department must attend to
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