VOTING 22-0, the Senate yesterday passed on third and final reading a proposed measure creating the Department of Migrant Workers.
Sen. Joel Villanueva, committee on labor chairman, said the proposed department seeks a “dedicated service arm” for the more than 10 million Filipino overseas workers who account for 10 percent of the population and provide 12 percent of national income.
The bill, among the campaign promises of President Duterte in the 2016 elections, was certified as urgent by the Chief Executive last May.
“This moment is for every Filipino abroad who has sacrificed so much for their family and our beloved country. The more than a century of Filipino diaspora shaped and led us to this very moment, which is a chance to change for the better the way our OFWs, our modern-day heroes, are recruited, repatriated, and reintegrated,” said Villanueva, the principal sponsor and author of Senate Bill No. 2234 or the proposed Department of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act.
Villanueva said the department will be cobbled from existing agencies and offices under the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, National Reintegration Center for OFWs, Philippine Overseas Labor Offices, some functions of the International Labor Affairs Bureau, National Maritime Polytechnic, Office of the undersecretary for migrant workers’ affairs, and the International Social Services Office of the DSWD.
It also proposes to move the Commission on Filipino Overseas from the Office of the President to the department.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration is deemed an attached agency.
On Monday night, the Senate passed on second reading Senate Bill No. 1530 which proposes the non-expiration of legislative franchises pending in Congress.
Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon said the proposed measure seeks to amend Section 18, Book VII, Chapter 3 of the Revised Administrative Code, which provides for the non-expiration of license where the franchisee has filed a timely and sufficient application of renewal until a final determination by the agency is made.
Drilon said the proposed amendment simply expands the provision to also include franchises granted by Congress.
He said the proposed measure hopes to address the unfair and iniquitous closure of their operations due to the issuance of cease-and-desist orders after their franchises expire, which leads to job losses in the telecom and broadcast industries.
“It is acknowledged that there is a gap in the law in cases as exhibited in cases where a franchisee, having taken all the steps to renew its franchise, is unable to do so not due to its own fault, but due to Congress’ failure to act on the application. As the principle of equity has been deemed insufficient to fill the gap, the timely passage of Congress has applied considerations of equity in previous similar situations and the measure seeks to institutionalize that practice,” Drilon said.
He said the proposed measure will require the concerned government agency or branch of government to act decisively on an application for renewal “and to express its decision in clear, unmistakable terms to ensure that the applicant is not punished for the authority’s indecision or inaction.”
He said this will also prevent a repeat of what happened to ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., whose bid for a franchise renewal was denied by a House panel, which led to the loss of more than 11,000 jobs.
