President Rodrigo Duterte is planning to remove the recruitment agencies if they keep mistreating the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
On July 12, the chief executive said that he wanted the government to handle the recruitments of overseas workers under the Department of OFW.
According to him, some recruitment agencies are taking advantage of the poor Filipinos who only wanted to escape poverty by working abroad.
“Kaya kayong mga recruitment, bilang talaga ang araw niyo. ‘Pag hindi ko kayo nadala sa usapan na maganda, brasuhan tayo, government supervision, and control because what has happened and has been happening is not acceptable to the Filipino now.” Duterte said during the Araw ng Pasasalamat for OFWs event at Camp Aguinaldo.
The President urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silverstre Bello III to work for the faster passage of the law that could create the Department for OFWs before December.
Christopher “Bong” Go who’s also present during the event informed the President that he already filed a bill that would create the Department of OFWs.
In response, Duterte said that he would quickly sign it once it reaches his office.
“Kaya apurahin ko ‘yang Department of OFW. Bawal na ang recruitment sa abroad…sa labas. Kung gusto nila, diyan sila maglagay ng mesa. So under the supervision of government at walang horrendous charges,” Duterte said.
“By December… buong Pilipinas ‘to. Bawal na ‘yang recruitment diyan sa labas…napunta ka doon. Doon ka makipag-deal, may listahan doon, mamili ka na lang kung sinong gusto mo,” he added.
OFWs may also receive better healthcare after the President bared his plan to create hospital exclusively for OFWs.
He’s also planning to assign police attachés to countries with many OFWs so they could quickly contact the government if the Filipino workers are being maltreated by their employers.
“The police attaché will connect you to…dito sa Pilipinas kung ano ang problema. And they will be trained to help you in legal matters of how to do it in the meantime that you are not here to solve the problem,” he said.
President Duterte is popular among OFWs and winning the majority of the overseas voters in the 2016 presidential elections.