DOLE’s undersecretaries given roles for OFWs by region

 

Expansion of roles of DOLE’s undersecretaries a response to growing Filipino migrant worker population

 

MANILA–Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz gve her department’s three undersecretaries new roles and geographical jurisdictions in an effort to further extend comprehensive care and protection to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

This means that labor attaches or labor officers, under the umbrella of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), under the said regions will directly report to these DOLE undersecretaries.

Newly-appointed Undersecretary Reydeluz D. Conferido will handle OFW concerns in the Asia and Pacific region. This is while Confediro handles DOLE’S Employment Facilitation and Manpower Development Cluster, that handles local employment generation.

POLOs in Europe and America will be suprvised by Undersecretary Rebecca C. Chato, who is also in charge of DOLE’s Labor Relations, Social Dialogue and Internal Affairs Cluster. (The said cluster handles labor relations-related issues, as well as labor conciliation and mediation.)

Lastly, Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunzad III, the head of DOLE’s Workers’ Welfare Social Protection Cluster, will look after the POLOs in Middle East.

These designations of OFW-related responsibilities are a response to the challenges of a growing overseas Filipino population, totaling some 10.4 million and covering permanent migrants (some 4.7 million), temporary migrants or the OFWs who are being referred to (4.5 million), and irregular or undocumented migrants.

This is not to mention, Baldoz said, that support must also be extended to OFWs’ families.

“The move is to ensure that more focus and attention will be given to each of the POLOs, as each of them is in different situations and may have different needs that will require different approaches,” she said in a press conference yesterday.

Baldoz added that the International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB), the attached DOLE agency handling the POLOs from DOLE’s headquarters in Manila, should provide the POLO geographical clusters all the needed support services.

 

 

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