Emergency hotline for OFWs pushed in Senate
SENATE President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda suggests that emergency hotlines personnel from the Philippine government be deployed in all areas or cities where there are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Legarda cited the importance and crucial role of having government offices in key cities or areas where there are records of abuses and maltreatment against the OFWs.
“I want every jurisdiction where there are Filipinos who serve as domestic helpers, who are sometimes prone to be victims of psychologically ill employers, to have a place, a number to call, a place to run at any one time they fear for their lives,” Legarda said.
“I don’t think it would take millions of augmentation in the budget,” she added.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri agreed with Legarda as he called for ratification and pledged his vote for the concurrence to the ratification of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 190, the first International Treaty to recognize the rights of everyone in a world of work free from violence and harassment, if and when it is transmitted to the Senate.
Zubiri advised the Secretariat to inform the concerned agencies through the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) to speed up the transmission of important ratified treaties for the Senate concurrence, including the ILO Convention No. 190 once ratified.
The privilege speech on the tragic murder of Jullebee Ranara, a 35-year-old OFW based in Kuwait, also alarmed Senator Robinhood Padilla, who expressed his sympathy to the family.
Ranara was reportedly raped, beaten, run over, and burned by the son of her employer.
Padilla, who was a converted Muslim, stressed that what happened to Ranara was “a violation of the teaching of Islam.”
“I am pleading, knocking on the doors of our countrymen, to emphasize that what happened to our OFW hero was never the work of a Muslim. This is not part of our faith. This is a blatant violation of the teachings of Islam,” Padilla said.
Sen. Raffy Tulfo advised that the government needs to ensure that the OFW is protected while working abroad as he commended the efforts of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) for their support and immediate action regarding the case of Ranara.
OWWA earlier said it will give Ranara’s family a guaranteed financial aid of P220,000 and an additional P800,000 from the life insurance provided by the agency.
