THE Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is eyeing a P5-billion budget for 2019—twice its proposed budget for this year—to fund its reintegration-focused services.
In an ambush interview, OWWA Administrator Hans J. Cacdac told the BusinessMirror about 3 billion of their proposed budget will be from the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA), while the remaining 2.7 billion will come directly from member contributions through the OWWA Fund.
Last year OWWA’s proposed budget for 2018 was only P2.8 billion, of which P1.9 billion came from the OWWA Fund and P916 million from the national budget.
Cacdac explained that the request for more funding in the next budget deliberations of Congress is warranted by the spike in the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who availed themselves of OWWA’s reintegration services last year.
“In 2017 there was a dramatic increase in the number of beneficiaries of our Balik Pinas, Balik Hanapbuhay [BPBH] program from 3,800 the year before to 20,000,” Cacdac said.
Prior to being revamped in 2017, the BPBH was a livelihood program that provided its beneficiaries with “noncash support via entrepreneurial training.”
The OWWA Board of Trustees approved last year the integration of a P20,000 cash aid to the BPBH to make it more “responsive and tangible” to its members.
The reform together with OWWA’s more aggressive promotion of its programs led to a surge in the number of members who accessed its services.
“I would attribute that to our outreach programs. I think we have empowered more returning distressed OFWs to avail of the program. Even our scholarship program is now being availed by many OFWs,” Cacdac said.
Paralegal costs
Cacdac said they also intend to use the additional fund for their proposed legal auxiliary services, supporting the Department Foreign Affairs’s (DFA) legal assistance program.
“While DFA will still handle the hiring of lawyers and retainers [for OFWs], through our [proposed] auxiliary we want to hire legal interpreters or paralegals to accompany OFWs in hearings and to keep them informed about cases abroad,” Cacdac said.
This responds to the migrant advocate groups’ recommendation for the government to provide interpreters to OFWs with pending cases so they could properly defend themselves in foreign courts.
“So far the signs from the DBM [Department of Budget and Management] are very positive…. So we are praying they would grant it,” Cacdac said.
Blueprint
OWWA’S higher budget request also aims to fund its proposed new reintegration blueprint.
The blueprint, the result of the series of stakeholder consultations conducted by OWWA in previous months, aims to benchmark the government’s reintegration services.
“It aims to standardized financial literacy for OFWs depending on their level. So if they are distressed their module would be different to those who are professionals or semiskilled. We will offer them separate and distinct financial literacy and investment,” said Roel B. Martin, the National Reintegration Center for OFWs officer in charge.
Martin said in an interview the duration of financial literacy programs currently differs depending on the implementer.
“The duration may be for one hour or even the whole day,” Martin said.
With the new program, OWWA hopes to better guide OFWs on how to better use their remittances.
Career guides
Aside from improving financial education, Integrated Seafarers of the Philippines President Gaudencio C. Morales said the blueprint also aims to provide better career outcomes for OFWs.
“For seafarers, we have that road map for sustainable career advancement that will guide from boarding their first ship to their reintegration,” said Morales, who was among those consulted for the blueprint.
Migrante International supported the more long-term approach of the blueprint to empower OFWs to better contribute to the country’s economic development.
“For us, the long-term outlook for OFWs is how they could contribute to nation-building…the reintegration program should be separated from the overall economic plan of the country,” Migrante International spokesperson Araman Hernando said.
Martin said the blueprint will need the approval of the OBT since it entails additional funding.
Cacdac said the blueprint will be tackled by the OBT at its next meeting.
Reintegration thrust
While the blueprint remains pending, OWWA’s thrust towards strengthening its reintegration mandate was already apparent in its existing programs.
During its Migrant Workers’ Day celebration yesterday, OWWA forged a new Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Coca-Cola Far East Limited to help boost its entrepreneurship services, specifically for returning female OFWs.
Another highlight is OWWA’s partnership with Facebook in training OFWs to harness social media in communicating with their families at home and use it to put up small businesses.
OWWA also held a Job Fair for OFWs displaced from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The event held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) was attended by 2,000 OFWs and their families.