The protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and overseas Filipinos is one of the utmost priorities of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s administration.

During the National Forum on Migration that gathered migrant workers and their families on Thursday to celebrate the OFW Month, Commission for Filipinos Overseas (CFO) officer-in-charge Undersecretary Abdulgani Macatoman vowed to strengthen its efforts to protect migrant workers as well as their families.

“The protection of our kababayans abroad is among the priority of our beloved President Bongbong Marcos and we will continue to institute measures to do so,” Macatoman said.

He said that through the newly established Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), the government is expected to speed up the process of addressing OFW complaints.

The conduct of the pre-departure seminars is also set to be improved to better inform and brief Filipinos going abroad to work to know about the culture of their host countries.

Macatoman cited the important contributions of OFWs based in different countries worldwide to the country’s nation building through the foreign remittances that help keep the Philippine economy afloat.

“This Administration really wants to address the needs of OFWs,” he said.

During the celebration, some OFWs shared their stories while living and working abroad.

During his recent meeting with the Filipino community in Brussels, Belgium to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-European Union Commemorative Summit, Marcos vowed to invest more in human capital development, infrastructure and the digital economy in order to create more jobs in the country.

“Sana naman dumating ang panahon, at ito ang ating pangarap na wala ng kailangan umalis ng Pilipinas dahil walang mahanap na trabaho sa Pilipinas. Aabutin din natin ‘yan (Hopefully the time will come, and this is our dream that no one will have to leave the Philippines because there is no job to be found in the Philippines. We will reach that too),” Marcos told the Filipino community across Europe. (PNA) 

Photo Credit: Facebook/CFOGovPH