The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is set to launch later this year a mobile-based monitoring system to keep track of returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who may need to avail of reintegration services.
In an interview with reporters last week, DMW Assistant Secretary Venecio V. Legaspi said they plan to integrate the system in the second phase of the DMW Mobile App by the end of the year.
Once implemented by DMW’s Management and Information Technology Service (MITS) in coordination with the Bureau of Immigration (BI), returning OFWs will be asked if they will stay permanently in the country
The data from the new Reintegration Management System (RMS) will be complemented by those from DMW’s One Repatriation Command Center and OFW Monitoring System.
“This will be a big help in profiling OFWs,” Legaspi said.
The DMW official noted those who will no longer seek overseas employment extended their comprehensive list of reintegration services, which will include local employment facilitation, reskilling or upskilling, and entrepreneurship among others via referral system.
He said determining the number of their OFWs, who need reintegration, will help in their planning and policy making initiatives.
The RMS will serve as the foundation of the DMW’s five-year plan to help improve the government’s reintegration programs for OFWs.
In preparation for the launch of the new system, Legaspi said they are currently cleaning the database of the National Reintegration Center for OFWs, which contains the information of 40,000 OFWs.
“So this will be uploaded so we will have a starting point [for the RMS],” Legaspi said.
