OFWs want presidential bets to hold campaign sorties abroad

MANILA, Philippines – Overseas Filipino workers groups in the Middle East yesterday urged all the presidential candidates to conduct campaign sorties abroad.

The OFW groups made the call as they kicked off the launching of “Migrant Agenda” while challenging presidential candidates to spell out their respective concerns over OFWs.

Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said the forum aims to ventilate and popularize the various OFW issues and concerns and put these into a specific program of action.

“Migrant Agenda Riyadh forum yesterday was first of a series. We vow to conduct more in other areas in Saudi Arabia and other GCC states where there are large concentration of OFWs. This will be part of our Voters’ Education campaign,” Monterona said.

Monterona said that as of mid-September, there are 540,000 registered overseas voters in the Middle East and Africa, the highest among the five continents.

The first public forum on Migrant agenda dubbed “Presidentiables, kakasa ka ba?” is a straightforward challenge to all presidential candidates and their respective senatorial candidates to spell out their programs for OFWs and their families.

“We would like to see the Migrant agenda in the platform of government of presidential candidates and even those running for senators,” Monterona said.

Monterona commended Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Arthur Lim in requiring all presidential candidates to issue their specific platform or program of government concerning specific issues of OFWs that will be posted on the Comelec website.

“We are asking the Comelec to require presidential candidates to conduct campaign sorties abroad and issue guidelines on this. This is in line with our aim to help educate overseas voters – to let them become informed and wise voters,” Monterona said.