OFW Rights Highlighted by Mission, DMW in Geneva Town Hall Meeting 

Left photo: Permanent Representative Evan P. Garcia and DMW Secretary Susan Ople (seated). Right photo: Ambassador Garcia welcomes Secretary Ople to Mabini Hall and introduces Filipino community members to the DMW delegation. (Geneva PM photos) 

GENEVA, 17 April 2023 – Permanent Representative Evan P. Garcia and Consul General Felipe F. Carino III welcomed Department of Migrant Workers’ Affairs Secretary Susan Ople, her delegation from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), and Undersecretary Severo Catura, Office of the President, to a presentation on benefits and rights of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) covered by DMW in a well-attended town hall meeting of Filipino community members. 

Secretary Ople and her delegation, led by DMW Undersecretary Hans Cacdac and Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan, were in Geneva for the 2023 Constructive Dialogue on the Philippines’ Third Periodic Report on the Implementation of the Migrant Workers’ Convention (CMW) in the United Nations. 

During the townhall meeting, Ambassador Garcia acknowledged the tremendous importance of the work of DMW in the United Nations and cited the opening of a new Department with a comprehensive mandate for the protection of and provision of labor deployment-related service to OFWs through satellite offices called Migrant Workers Offices and headed by Migrant Workers Officers. 

In her remarks, Secretary Ople welcomed Filipino community members and explained DMW benefits available to qualified OFWs such as physical/human remains repatriation, Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) issuance services, legal assistance related to migrant deployment, and reintegration and livelihood programs, among others. She addressed the concerns of community members regarding access to benefits, representation before host governments, legal representation and efficient services, and conveyed the role of her Department in upholding migrant workers’ rights. She was ably assisted by DMW officials Undersecretary Cacdac, Undersecretary Caunan, and MWO to Milan Maria Korina Buñag, while DFA Consul General Cariño reported on consular matters and gave updates on DFA-related developments. 

The creation of DMW clarified the role of government agencies in relation to the Filipino diaspora with DMW focused on concerns of and upholding the rights of OFWs and the DFA covering other categories of Filipinos, i.e. students, immigrants, and students, and their concerns. END 

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