OFW
Ejercito bats
for prompt
passage of his
two pro-OFW
bills
Senator JV Ejercito
Credit : senate.gov.ph
"It has consistently been a matter of government policy to provide every possible
manner of aid and assistance to our brothers and sisters who toil overseas. But
even the best policies must fail if there are no concrete resources allotted for their
implementation," Ejercito noted.
S
ENATOR JV EJERCITO has called for the immediate passage
of his two separate but related bills for troubled overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs) abroad.
Ejercito made the call following President Rodrigo Roa
Duterte's announcement banning the deployment of
OFWs to Kuwait, recently.
The President's pronouncement stemmed from the
deaths of Filipina OFWs at the Gulf state which also
initiated a repatriation program for those who would like to come home.
In a latest statement, Ejercito said he would convince his fellow
senators to give priority attention to Senate Bill No. 157 (SBN 157) and
SBN 1858, which he both authored, when the session resumes next
month.
SBN 157 seeks to amend Republic Act No. 8042 (RA 8042), or the
"Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995," as amended, to
include in the use of Legal Assistance Fund support to OFWs facing
charges with the prescribed penalty of life imprisonment or death from
"the time of their arrest or charging all the way to the trial proper and at
all levels of appeal."
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R.A. 8042 provides that the Legal Assistance Fund "shall be used
exclusively" to pay foreign lawyers in representing OFWs facing criminal
and labor cases abroad, or in filing cases against their erring or abusive
employers.
SBN 1858, on the other hand, aims to create a Special Assistance Fund
for OFWs in distress, which shall be utilized for their basic necessities
when they are caught in emergencies or detained; legal assistance
like litigation expenses, legal fees, payment of translation fees, and
attendance in court hearing expenses; repatriation; and medical
expenses, including hospitalization and purchases of medicines in the
form of vouchers for six months from arrival.
"It has consistently been a matter of government policy to provide
every possible manner of aid and assistance to our brothers and sisters
who toil overseas. But even the best policies must fail if there are no
concrete resources allotted for their implementation," Ejercito noted.
The Foreign Affairs department said that there are around 262,000
Filipinos who are working in Kuwait, nearly 60 percent of them are
domestic workers.