AID FOR OFWs. Displaced migrant workers from Negros Occidental province receive financial assistance of PHP5,000 each from the provincial government in Bacolod City on Monday afternoon (Feb. 13, 2023). The 81 beneficiaries were those who have not completed their employment contracts abroad and returned to the province from January to June 2022. (Photo courtesy of PIO Negros Occidental)
BACOLOD CITY – The Negros Occidental provincial government has released financial assistance of PHP5,000 each to 81 distressed and displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from various local government units in the province.
The beneficiaries, which received the aid at the provincial capitol here on Monday afternoon, included those who have not completed their employment contracts and have returned to the province from January to June 2022.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said the distribution of assistance to the OFWs is proof of the province's commitment to ease the difficulties of Negrense migrant workers.
"We are aware of your challenges, including the high personal cost of being away from your family, and the gravity of the impact of the recent crisis in your sector," he added.
Lacson noted that among the regions in the country, Western Visayas, where Negros Occidental is located, consistently has the largest population of OFWs.
On Tuesday, Marie June Castro, action officer of the Provincial Gender and Development (GAD) Focal Point System and secretary of the Provincial Committee on Migration and Development, said the assistance for affected OFWs is being sourced from the provincial GAD budget.
For the latest batch of beneficiaries, the fund was sourced from the 2022 Migration and Development Initiatives of the Provincial Planning and Development Office while in 2020 and 2021, from the Gender Responsive Intervention to Covid-19 and New Normal of the Provincial Administrator's Office.
Other programs and projects being implemented by the province for migrant workers and their families include psychological counseling workshops and college scholarships for non-returning OFWs.
Underway is another project dubbed "Establishing and Institutionalizing a Gender-Responsive Migrant Resource Center Help Desks and Services for Women Migrant Workers in the Province of Negros Occidental” in partnership with the International Labor Organization and the Center for Migrant Advocacy. (PNA)
