THE Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it expects the transition works for assistance to Filipino overseas workers to be taken by the newly-created Department of Migrant Workers within six months.
The DFA also assured the public it will continue to assist migrant workers until the DMW fully takes over the responsibility.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Eduardo José de Vega said the DFA and DMW have agreed to come up with a joint agreement that would allow the former to continue funding all assistance to migrant workers until such time that the DMW has completed setting up its operations for disbursing its Aksyon Fund through the overseas Migrant Workers Offices (MWO).
Under Republic Act No. 11641, the DMW is mandated to take over the Assistance to Nationals (ATN) functions from the DFA, through the establishment of MWO overseas.
Congress also allocated the DMW with an Aksyon Fund for this purpose.
De Vega said the public should also understand the DMW was only recently constituted and is still in the process of hiring additional personnel who will be trained by DFA to assume all ATN functions and obligations.
The DMW was created after former President Duterte signed RA 11641 in December 2021.
“Our advice to the public is, don’t worry because the government, the DFA is here to assist you while the DMW is preparing,” De Vega told the Laging Handa public briefing.
De Vega said under RA 11641, the DMW is supposed to take over all programs to assist OFWs but added the transition can only be completed by July this year.
Dee Vega further explained that under RA 11641, the DMW is mandated to disburse its Aksyon Fund to assist OFWs, while the DFA is mandated to disburse its ATN Fund and Legal Assistance Fund (LAF) only for overseas Filipinos other than contract workers, or for all overseas Filipinos situated in places without a resident MWO.
He said the DFA will continue using its ATN and LAF funds to assist all overseas Filipinos, including contract workers, in the interim period, which should last until the end of March 2023.
Last year, De Vega said the DFA was able to assist 121, 154 overseas Filipinos through repatriation efforts and other assistance programs, while legal assistance was rendered to 6,467 more.
