Angara sees more social welfare officers being deployed abroad
Published Apr 17, 2019 12:27 pm
By Hannah Torregoza
Reelectionist Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Wednesday said more social welfare attachés (SWAs) would be deployed in Philippine embassies and consulates, especially in countries with a high concentration of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Senator Juan Edgardo ‘’Sonny’’ M. Angara
(FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN) Angara made the statement as the bill seeking to institutionalize the deployment of SWAs, which he refers to as malasakit officers, is set to be signed into law by President Duterte. Angara, one of the bill’s authors, said an enrolled copy of the measure establishing the Office for Social Welfare Attaché has already been transmitted to Malacañang. He said the deployment of more SWAs is expected to fill the gap when it comes to comforting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in distress and needing psychological help, such as victims of trafficking, illegal recruitment, sexual abuse and maltreatment. “Having ‘malasakit officers’ in Philippine embassies and consulates is a reassurance that the government truly cares for our modern-day heroes, who sacrifice a lot to create better lives for their families and help the Philippine economy to stay afloat through their remittances,” Angara said in a statement. The senator is scheduled to campaign today in Batangas, which belongs to the region with the highest number of OFWs. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that in 2017, 484,000 of the 2.34 million Filipinos that left the country to work abroad are from Region 4-A or Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon). There are 10 million Filipinos living and working overseas. Angara noted that the country has only seven SWAs who are posted in Malaysia, Kuwait, Qatar, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Even if the government plans to send SWAs in Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Lebanon, Italy and South Korea this year, their number are not enough to attend to all OFWs who are vulnerable to extreme physical, emotional and psychological stress, he said. “In the division of labor inside what is basically a multi-agency embassy, there are assigned personnel that can handle legal cases, liaise with local police, as well as military, trade, agriculture attachés,” Angara said. What is lacking is a trained professional who can provide the three essential C’s—care, comfort and counseling—to Filipinos in a crisis situation and in need of special protection, he said. The bill creating the Office for Social Welfare Attaché mandates the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to formulate and issue the implementing rules and regulations, in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Health (DOH), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Under the measure, DSWD will provide criteria for determining the selection of diplomatic posts to which SWAs will be deployed. A P90-million appropriation has been earmarked for the creation of the Office of the Social Welfare Attaché under the 2018 and 2019 national budgets.
Senator Juan Edgardo ‘’Sonny’’ M. Angara(FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN) Angara made the statement as the bill seeking to institutionalize the deployment of SWAs, which he refers to as malasakit officers, is set to be signed into law by President Duterte. Angara, one of the bill’s authors, said an enrolled copy of the measure establishing the Office for Social Welfare Attaché has already been transmitted to Malacañang. He said the deployment of more SWAs is expected to fill the gap when it comes to comforting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in distress and needing psychological help, such as victims of trafficking, illegal recruitment, sexual abuse and maltreatment. “Having ‘malasakit officers’ in Philippine embassies and consulates is a reassurance that the government truly cares for our modern-day heroes, who sacrifice a lot to create better lives for their families and help the Philippine economy to stay afloat through their remittances,” Angara said in a statement. The senator is scheduled to campaign today in Batangas, which belongs to the region with the highest number of OFWs. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that in 2017, 484,000 of the 2.34 million Filipinos that left the country to work abroad are from Region 4-A or Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon). There are 10 million Filipinos living and working overseas. Angara noted that the country has only seven SWAs who are posted in Malaysia, Kuwait, Qatar, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Even if the government plans to send SWAs in Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Lebanon, Italy and South Korea this year, their number are not enough to attend to all OFWs who are vulnerable to extreme physical, emotional and psychological stress, he said. “In the division of labor inside what is basically a multi-agency embassy, there are assigned personnel that can handle legal cases, liaise with local police, as well as military, trade, agriculture attachés,” Angara said. What is lacking is a trained professional who can provide the three essential C’s—care, comfort and counseling—to Filipinos in a crisis situation and in need of special protection, he said. The bill creating the Office for Social Welfare Attaché mandates the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to formulate and issue the implementing rules and regulations, in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Health (DOH), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Under the measure, DSWD will provide criteria for determining the selection of diplomatic posts to which SWAs will be deployed. A P90-million appropriation has been earmarked for the creation of the Office of the Social Welfare Attaché under the 2018 and 2019 national budgets.