THE House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs has scheduled a bill extending credit assistance to Filipinos who want to work abroad but don’t have enough means to process their work papers for plenary deliberation.

House Bill 161, or the Overseas Workers Credit Assistance Act of 2007, also seeks to establish an exclusive credit-assistance program by providing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) access to credit facilities even before their departure.

Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara of Aurora, principal author of the bill, said that the measure aims to provide for the grant of P50,000 loan to any OFW.

He must, however, have a contract certified by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration through the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Angara said. “The loan may be used to defray an OFW’s recruitment expenses, including placement fees, documentation costs and plane tickets,” Angara said.

Besides the payment of recruitment fees, Angara said the bill proposes that OFWs be also allowed to avail themselves of a temporary loan to cover the living expenses of their families during their first few months of work abroad.

“It is but fitting to extend to our OFWs all the assistance that the government can give,” Angara said.

Meanwhile, Lakas Rep. Manuel “Way Kurat” Zamora of Compostela Valley, committee chairman, said the committee has started deliberation on a bill focusing on former OFWs who have returned home after years of sacrifice toiling in foreign lands.

House Bill 1740, proposed by House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor, seeks to grant former OFWs a 20-percent discount on transportation services,  lodging fees at hotels and similar establishments,  restaurants and recreation centers, as well as on the cost of medicines.

THE House Committee on Ways and Means on Tuesday endorsed for plenary approval the proposal to use the P16.7-billion tax windfall in subsidizing electricity, fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumption to ease the severe economic burden of Filipinos in the wake of the relentless increase in the prices of basic commodities and services.

THE Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) is now on a five-day road show in Taiwan along with officials of the Subic and Clark free ports to entice Taiwanese firms to take advantage of the improved investment opportunities under the  Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung economic corridor agreement.

BAGS and belts made of plastics— materials that usually end up clogging our canals and causing flood. Keychain, table organizer, card and pen holder, picture frame and other cool home or office accessories made of recycled paper or plastic waste, such as tetra packs.

THE unabated spike in the price of fertilizer can pose a threat to the rice self-sufficiency target of the Philippine government by 2010.

DAVAO CITY—A business chamber executive here said member companies have “scrimped, saved and recycled” to stay afloat amid the hard times, and said he was “appealing to everybody to do the same.”

INDEPENDENT power produ-cer Trans-Asia Power Generation Corp.,the power arm of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Corp., is looking at undertaking a prefeasibility study for its proposed wind farm in Guimaras.

CLARK FREE PORT, Pampanga—Two airliners based at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) are expected to provide the much-needed service to ferry overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Middle East amid the reported high cost of booking and the shortage of flights.

THE House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs has scheduled a bill extending credit assistance to Filipinos who want to work abroad but don’t have enough means to process their work papers for plenary deliberation.