Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 16) — President Rodrigo Duterte has certified as urgent a bill that will create a new department for overseas Filipino workers, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said.
Sotto on Wednesday said Duterte wants the immediate enactment of Senate Bill 1949, or the Department of Overseas Filipinos Act of 2020. The Senate president received the letter dated December 15 from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
On March 11, the House of Representatives voted 173-11 to pass on third and final reading their version of the bill.
House Bill 5832 states the new department will serve as the primary agency that will protect the rights and welfare of OFWs such as through regulating deployment to other countries and pursuing illegal recruitment cases.
After it is approved by the Senate and signed into law by the President, the department will be led by a Secretary along with five undersecretaries with several functions – administration and finance, foreign employment, diaspora engagements and special concerns, assistance to Filipinos overseas in distress, and policy agreements.
