Cong. Edgar Chatto (center) with Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Regional Director Martel Dasayon (left) and Sikatuna Mayor Jecjec Ellorimo (right) affix their respective signatures on the Memorandum of Agreement for the establishment of an overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) Help Desk inside the town hall of the said town. The signing took place on Jan. 20, 2023. All local government units in the first district get their own Help Desk. Now, government services become closer to overseas Filipino workers and their respective families. Contributed photo
Local Government Units (LGUs) in the First District have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) for the establishment of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Help Desks in their respective city/municipalities.
Simultaneous MOA signings were held over the past week with Cong. Edgar Chatto, OWWA Regional Director Martel Dasayon and LGU officials of Baclayon, Albur, Panglao, Tagbilaran City, Maribojoc, Calape, Corella, Cortes and Sikatuna.
The LGUs in the First District with existing MOAs for the establishment of OFW Help Desks are Balilihan, Catigbian, Antequera, Loon, Tubigon and Dauis.
Cong. Chatto said the program strengthens the coordination between OWWA and LGUs, making it easy for OFWs and their families to seek help from government whenever there is a problem about the worker’s deployment or employment abroad.
Chatto ‘s Congressional office through a help desk has been facilitating assistance to OFWs in distress, directly coordinating with OWWA as well as the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration) for quite some time now.
Chatto’s OFW Help Desk program began when he was the vice governor of Bohol in 1995 and remains to be very active in its help to the overseas workers.
He institutionalized the “Help Desk” project when he was governor of Bohol and placed the desk at the Bohol Employment and Placement Office (BEPO).
According to Dasayon, OWWA will train personnel from the LGU to become public OFW desk officers to provide the appropriate assistance to OFWs in distress.
The OWWA Help Desk also facilitates training, promotion of health care and overall welfare, and integration, together of our overseas workers with their families.
“This partnership of OWWA and LGUs ensures the implementation of various programs that support Boholano OFWs and their families,” Chatto also said.