Returning OFWs get DOLE assistance

MANILA, Philippines - For opting to stay in the country rather than seek reemployment abroad, a group of returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) has received financial help from the government.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the government granted P10,000 each to 47 returning Filipina workers from Zamboanga City and other areas in Western Mindanao.

Baldoz said the financial assistance will help the returning OFWs jumpstart or expand their small enterprises.

“The 47 women-beneficiaries are former OFWs who have given up their adventure in foreign lands and have decided to stay for good in the country to be with their families,” Baldoz said,

Of the 47, 31 beneficiaries are from Zamboanga City; four are from Isabela City, Basilan; two beneficiaries are from Zamboanga Sibugay province; five are form Zamboanga del Sur; and five beneficiaries come from Zamboanga del Norte.

According to Baldoz, the livelihood grant is part of the DOLE’s twin strategies to enhance access to emergency employment and livelihood and protection of migrant workers.

Baldoz said the 47 women OFWs made a wise decision in opting to stay in the country and nurture their home-based business to increase their income.

For the past years, Baldoz said, the government has been exerting efforts to provide Filipinos the option to stay in the country instead of seeking employment overseas.

In fact, Baldoz said, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has already released over P632 million from the government’s P2-billion reintegration program for returning OFWs.

More than half of the money released were used to fund small and medium businesses in the non-agriculture sector, while agriculture-based enterprises accounted for 41 percent.

Baldoz said they are encouraging more OFWs to put up their own business and eventually help generate employment in the country.