MANILA, Philippines — Nearly a fourth of Filipinos are unsatisfied with the performance of the new Department of Migrant Workers half a year into the Marcos administration, new survey results published by a think tank Friday suggest.
Per the OCTA Research group's Tugon ng Masa survey for the fourth quarter of 2022, 36% of interviewees said they were dissatisfied with the department's work. Only 10% said they were satisfied with it.
It was followed by the Department of Trade and Industry at 16% dissatisfaction and the Department of Energy at 15%. Both the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Transportation received 12% dissatisfaction. No other national government agency breached the ten percent mark.
Among departments that interviewees said they were satisfied with, the top performing ones were the Department of Education (87%), Department of Health (79%), and Department of Social Welfare and Development (76%).
This comes as the families of OFWs are up in arms over the months-delayed balikbayan boxes from overseas that the Bureau of Customs found to be abandoned by freight forwarders. The latter has since filed criminal cases against companies proven to have accepted balikbayan boxes but eventually abandoned them.
The Department of Migrant Workers is also investigating a similar trafficking scheme that illegally brings Filipino workers to so-called crypto technoparks in Cambodia and Laos.
The DMW was created to streamline and merge government agencies that cater to the rights and welfare of OFWs, including:
- DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs
- Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
- International Labor Affairs Bureau
- National Maritime Polytechnic
- National Reintegration Center for OFWs
- Office of the Social Welfare Attache
Under her leadership, DMW Secretary Susan Ople said that the department will prioritize welfare cases, conducting a review of registered employers to ensure worker safety, and the creation of reintegration programs for OFWs coming home, among other programs.
— with a report from Kaycee Valmonte