DOLE helps former OFWs get livelihood

CEBU, Philippines -  Eighty former Overseas and Filipino Workers from Central Visayas underwent livelihood skills training and financial literacy by the Department of Labor and Employment.

DOLE, through the National Reintegration Center for Overseas Filipino Workers, conducted the two-day training, which started yesterday, with the aim to help the ex-OFWs alleviate their lives through entrepreneurship.

Fifty-two of the participants are from Cebu, seven from Bohol, and four from Negros Oriental. They were referred by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.

As per record, 63 of the ex-OFWs were abused by their former employers while working abroad while the remaining 17 were undocumented or the commonly called Tago nang Tago (TNT).

Labor and Employment Officer III Dexter Paro said the 63 participants will be given cooking starting kits worth P7,500 while the 17 will be handed over P10,000 financial assistance.

A 26-year-old female participant from Barangay Pasil, Cebu City shared that she had worked in Malaysia for three years before she found out that she was actually TNT.

“Nakasulod tuod ko og trabaho sa usa ka dako nga company, pero nahibulong ko kay almost three years wala pa gihapon koy visa. Sige ko og ask sa company, pero ila kong ingnon nga gi-process,” she shared.

She said her employer assured her that her stay was legal, but curiosity prompted her to go to the embassy and eventfully found out that she had been undocumented.

“From there, I asked the embassy nga mouli na lang ko sa Pilipinas, mao ‘to ila ko gitabangan,” she further shared.

A 41-year-old domestic helper in Kuwait, on the other hand, said she had experienced being abused by her employer during her one-year stay, like receiving delayed salary and being deprived of meals until she was done with the chores.

She managed to escape from her employer’s custody and sought the embassy’s help.

The DOLE-NRCO hopes that the P700,000 budget they allocated for the participants would help them start their own businesses. (FREEMAN)