Duterte urges Congress to fast-track passage of law creating department for overseas Filipinos

October 27, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte has urged Congress to immediately pass a bill creating a department for overseas Filipinos.

Duterte recalled that one of his campaign promises was to form a department that would focus on the plight of overseas Filipino workers.

"I'd like to hurry up Congress in this. One of my proposals during the campaign period was the creation of (the Department of) Overseas Filipino," Duterte said in a message to the people on Monday night but was only aired on Tuesday morning.

Duterte said the Department of Labor and Employment would be a separate agency handling local employment.

"So I proposed in the coming months and I hope to come up with a Department of Overseas Workers," he added.

Duterte said he also wants to create another agency for the seafarers.

"I told them (seafarers), I have different treatment on them because of the so many international laws involved," he said.

According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, there are over 10 million Filipinos abroad.

He said Duterte wants to "centralize" giving of assistance to them.

Roque said Duterte could certify as urgent the passage of the bill, seeking to create the department for Filipinos abroad.

Aside from the DOLE, which has attached agencies, such as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration, and Commission on Filipinos Overseas, among others, the Department of Foreign Affairs is also handling issues related to Filipinos overseas.

Duterte also directed Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to look into the plight of a Filipino who has been stranded in Vietnam for two years.

"I’d like to ask Secretary Bello, if he’s listening, to look into the matter. He has been there for two years. That is unconscionable. I cannot accept that kind of mistake of government. We should bring him home. No Filipino should be left stranded like a person with no nationality," he said.

Duterte did not give further details regarding stranded Filipinos in Vietnam. Celerina Monte/DMS