President Duterte has signed Republic Act No. 11227 which compels the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to create a handbook for overseas Filipino workers.
The Handbook for OFWs Act of 2018, a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 192 and House Bill No. 8110, was signed by Duterte last Feb. 22.
A copy of the law was provided to media yesterday.
Under the law, the POEA is required to develop, publish, disseminate, and update a handbook which will contain the rights and responsibilities of OFWs.
The handbook will be in English with translations in local languages and given to sea-based or land-based OFWs for free.
The handbook is aimed to empower and enable OFWs to be aware of their rights and responsibilities and give them basic information on the labor and living conditions of the country of their destination.
The POEA and Departments of Labor and Employment and Foreign Affairs are mandated to promote the welfare and rights of Filipinos working abroad.
The law also mandates the DoLE to ensure that labor and social welfare laws in the foreign countries are fairly applied to migrant workers and whenever applicable, to other overseas Filipinos, including the grant of legal assistance and the referral to proper medical centers or hospitals.
The POEA is tasked to update the handbook and the amount needed to continuously publish, distribute, and update the handbook will be taken from the appropriations of the agency.
It will also implement an intensified program against illegal recruitment activities in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies.
Other agencies mandated to implement the new law are the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, Commission on Filipinos Overseas, and the Maritime Industry Authority. (Argyll Geducos)
