07 January 2015 – In line with its Gender and Development and Public Diplomacy Programs, the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Regional Consular Office in Puerto Princesa City (RCO Puerto Princesa) held an orientation seminar for f its female passport applicants who are intending to work overseas as domestic helpers. About 20 applicants planning to work in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia attended the orientation seminar that was conducted by Ms. Liza Jane Estalilla, Officer-in-Charge RCO Puerto Princesa in their new office at Robinsons Place Palawan on 21 December 2014.
Better known by its slogan “Handa Ka Na Bang Mag-Abroad?” this orientation seminar is an advocacy against human trafficking and illegal recruitment. It also aims to empower prospective overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) by educating them on how to find legitimate overseas employment, their rights as overseas workers, where to find help and how to prepare themselves and properly handle the various challenges of working abroad. During the seminar, Ms. Estalilla also shared some of her first-hand experiences in handling cases of maltreatment by employers, imprisonment, human trafficking and other Assistance-to- Nationals cases during her foreign assignments.
Ms. Adignita Elijan, Family Welfare Officer of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Palawan, talked about the importance of being an OWWA member and the various benefits and privileges that OWWA extends to its members and their families.
The participants actively joined in the open forum and expressed their thanks and appreciaiton to Ms. Estalilla and Ms. Elijan for the useful information they received from the seminar.
The participants and accompanying members of their families were then treated to a Christmas salu-salo at the DFA Staffhouse together with RCO Puerto Princesa’s personnel and their families. Each OFW participant received a token of appreciation with lootbags of goodies and prizes were given to the children during the parlor games.
This “Handa Ka Na Ba Mag-Abroad?” orientation seminar is just the start of a bigger community education program for OFWs and emigrants being spearheaded by Ms. Estalilla to support the anti-trafficking efforts of the Provincial Government of Palawan. Other line agencies in Palawan, namely the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the OWWA, the Philippine Statistics Office (PSO), the Provincial Employment Services Office (PESO) and the Provincial Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking (PIACAT Palawan), have pledged to join the “Handa Ka Na Ba Mag-Abroad?” inter-agency team that will conduct the community education program in various municipalities in Palawan in cooperation with local government units. The first community education program is slated to be held in February 2015 in the Municipality of Balabac, Palawan’s southernmost municipality. END