Villar urges gov't attention to OFWs in distress

Senate President Manny Villar called on the government to give attention to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in distress, at least 120 of whom are now in Jordan awaiting repatriation to the Philippines.

The government has imposed an indefinite ban on the deployment of new workers to Jordan after 120 to 150 of them, mostly househelpers, have fled their employers and sought refuge at a Philippine-run center in Amman due to maltreatment, rape, and non-payment of wages.

Villar said, "The repatriation of our OFWs who long to return to the comfort of their families in the Philippines after suffering in the hands of their foreign employers should be a priority of the government."

Villar himself recently helped in the repatriation of eight minors at the Filipino Workers Resource Center in Amman, Jordan. One of them is Nisan Labay who arrived on Nov. 23.

The Senate President also underscored the need to provide counseling services to OFWs by qualified social workers as a way of aiding them and checking on their conditions.

"Our embassies carry the tremendous responsibility of looking after our distressed OFWs, which necessitates hard work at the earliest time of turmoil faced by our countrymen abroad," the Nacionalista Party president reminded.

Villar further said, "We should avoid resorting to last-ditch efforts which compromise the safety and security of our OFWs."

The indefinite ban on the deployment of workers to Jordan is only for newly hired workers and does not apply to those returning to "good-standing" employers in Jordan, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration head Rosalinda Baldoz said.