aysabaw.com

Global alliance of overseas Filipinos and families Migrante International welcomed Governing Board Resolution 12, s.2016 of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) ordering the exemption of returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), otherwise known as Balik Manggagawa, from the overseas employment certificate (OEC).

According to Migrante International Garry Martinez, the exemption is a positive development in the Duterte administration’s thrust of streamlining services for OFWs to afford them ease in transactions and relief from government “red tape”.

However, Martinez said, that the problem with the OEC not merely lies in tedious processing and long queues for returning OFWs during so-called peak seasons for balikbayans.

“The OEC has long been deemed by OFWs and families as a money-making scheme by the government in the form of ‘legalized kotong’, from new hires and Balik Manggagawa alike. Therefore, we urge Pres. Duterte to not only limit the exemption to returning OFWs but to abolish…