FREE. Distressed Filipino workers are leaving Kuwait in this photo taken on Tuesday (Jan. 17, 2023). The Department of Migrant Workers targets to bring home within two weeks at least 300 of the 461 staying in a Philippine-run shelter due to various issues, such as unpaid salaries or abusive employers. (Courtesy of DMW)
MANILA – The Senate must prioritize a bill that will ensure the availability of legal assistance and funds for distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said he has already filed Senate Bill 1448 that would amend Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act to benefit about 10.6 million overseas Filipinos around the globe, especially those in need.
Given the number of abused OFWs, Villanueva emphasized the need to expand the system for the provision of legal assistance.
"To curtail further delay in the use of the Agarang Kalinga at Saklolo para sa mga OFW na Nangangailangan (AKSYON) Fund, the bill will allow the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to delegate the authority to approve an expenditure chargeable to the fund to the head of the post," he said Tuesday during a hearing conducted by the Committee on Migrant Workers.
Villanueva cited data from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) that said the Middle East is a hotspot for cases of abuse involving OFWs.
"According to OWWA, there are 6,035 cases of maltreatment/mistreatment in the Middle East, while there are only 679 cases in Asia, Europe, and Americas combined," he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) supported Villanueva's measure, seeing that it can pull out the "limitations" in the existing rules and regulations in using the Legal Assistance Fund (LAF) for overseas Filipinos.
DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia said the measure would help engage other stakeholders who are willing to provide free legal assistance to OFWs.
"'Yung mga paralegal po natin, ‘yung magtatapos ng abogasya, kinakailangan po natin ito. Sa katunayan po ang DMW ay may mga itinatag na MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) na sa iba't ibang mga university at sila po ay tumutulong sa pagpo-provide ng legal service sa ating mga OFW (Our paralegals, those who are about to finish law school, we need this. In fact, the DMW has signed MOUs with different universities and they are helping provide legal services to our OFWs)," Olalia said.
Senator Raffy Tulfo has also filed Senate Bill No. 1175 or An Act Encouraging New Lawyer-Scholars to Provide Free Legal Services to Overseas Filipino Workers that will enhance the capacity of DMW to assist OFWs.
Funding
DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said PHP215 million of LAF was disbursed to assist 6,467 overseas Filipinos in 2022.
"We always have a high utilization rate kasi wala kaming dine-deny na legal assistance basta ni-request (because we never deny any request for legal assistance)," de Vega said.
He also thanked the senators for separating the funds of the DFA and DMW in assisting overseas Filipinos.
Under the rules, the DMW would answer for the legal expenses of OFWs using the AKSYON Fund.
The DFA would shoulder the legal expenses of overseas Filipinos who are not OFWs and of OFWs in countries without migrant worker offices using LAF.
The LAF could be availed of by both OFWs and overseas Filipinos while the AKSYON Fund will be used to provide legal and other forms of assistance to OFWs, separate from the funds managed by the DFA.
Unpaid wages
Meanwhile, the DMW asked former workers of construction company Saudi Oger in Riyadh to register and submit missing documents for faster processing of their claims.
In a video link sent by the DMW to the media on Tuesday, Secretary Susan Ople said that through Undersecretary Py Caunan, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia instructed the unpaid workers to update their data through http://ehqaq.sa/saudioger.
The deadline for registration through the link is on Jan. 19 but Ople said they requested for an extension.
Inquiries may be sent via email to [email protected] while request for assistance can be sent at DMW’s [email protected].
A total of 11,000 OFWs were displaced from Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2017 due to an oil price crash that left employers, mostly construction firms, unable to pay salaries and other benefits.
Of the total, 8,000 were from Saudi Oger.
Ople, who is part of the World Economic Forum delegation in Davos, Switzerland, assured the DMW is regularly following up on their case.
“Walang lumilipas na linggo na hindi kami nag fa-follow up sa aming (Not a week goes by that we do not follow up on our) Saudi Arabia counterpart,” Ople said. “Ang sabi sa amin may formal notice na parating para matuloy na ‘yung aming pagpunta within this month, sa buwan ng Enero (We were told that there is a formal notice coming so that we can go ahead within this month, in the month of January).” (PNA)
