ATN starts handover of OFW-related concerns to MWO
Soon, all overseas Filipino workers facing non work-related problems will no longer have to seek help from the assistance to nationals section of the Philippine Consulate General.
This is because the law creating the Department of Migrant Workers (RA 11641) specifically provides that all OFW-related concerns will now have to be dealt with under one roof.
For overseas posts, that will mean all services being integrated under the Migrant Workers’ Office, which replaced the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
The transition to the new system started in January this year, and should be completed by February next year, according to ATN head Consul Paulo Saret.
This means OFW issues will be addressed by MWO while ATN will focus on helping all Filipinos who are not migrant workers.
The changes entailed by the creation of DMW also included the transfer of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s attached office from the PCG to the MWO, with Social Welfare Attaché Remilene Marcelino now working under the supervision of Labor Attache Mel Dizon.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, however, has not been affected by the changes as it continues to operate as a separate agency with its own funds, though still under the DMW.
Where previously ATN officers were seen accompanying OFWs with court cases to the courts or visiting confined OFW patients in hospital, since May 2 it has been either Marcelino or MWO officer Joffrey Gido Pagaran doing the rounds.
Saret said Pagaran and Marcelino have been training at ATN since February on duties that they will perform for OFWs when the transition has been completed by the end of the Philippine government’s fiscal year 2023-24.
That would mean a daunting workload for the MWO as OFWs make up an overwhelming 191,000 of the 211,000 Filipinos working or living in Hong Kong.
The remaining 20,000 are dual citizens, students, and permanent residents whose concerns are far fewer than those of the OFWs. Add to these the handful of tourists, transients, asylum seekers who seek consular intervention when they have a run-in with the law.
Given this, Saret says MWO does need additional staff to take up all the OFW-related matters currently being handled by ATN. But as the DMW was not included in the budget for this year, it will have to make do with the number at hand for now.
Source: The SUN HK : ATN starts handover of OFW-related concerns to MWO (sunwebhk.com)