Press Release
June 13, 2008

Villar visits repatriated OFW in her Bacolod home

Senate President Manny Villar today paid a visit to the home of a maltreated overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Bacolod City whom he helped repatriate from Jordan along with her daughter two months ago.

The OFW, Jeanilyn Martinez, 30, was ecstatic when she welcomed and hugged the Senate President. She was among the April 21 batch of workers who were finally able to return to the country after Villar sponsored their plane fares. Her two-year-old daughter Jeanil who was born in Jordan arrived with her.

Villar, who has been helping OFWs in distress since his days as a budding entrepreneur, saw and met Martinez at the Philippine embassy in Jordan where she and other OFWs made their plea to the Senate President.

Two months after her much-longed-for arrival to the Philippines, Jeanilyn did not only get to welcome her benefactor right into her humble home in Bacolod City, but she also received a surprise from Villar--three basketfuls of assorted commodities as livelihood assistance--to fill her modest sari-sari store.

"I wish to thank Senate President Manny Villar for helping me," Martinez said in the local dialect, "I also wish to raise my child here in the best way I can, and his help really matters. For this I am so grateful," the single mother said.

Villar, who is also president of the Nacionalista Party, stressed, "Jeanilyn represents many OFWs across the globe who need to be helped in their distress. There are still a big number awaiting and begging assistance and they deserve urgent attention."

The Senate President has made a call to increase the assistance fund to OFWs in distress, "A replenishable P1-billion assistance to nationals or ATN fund must be maintained, cobbled together from OWWA membership fees, appropriations and internal income of the DFA from passport and consular fees."

Likewise, Villar has been pushing for the application of the "no-fault insurance system" for OFWs, a form of indemnity plan in which the injured in an accident or misfortune receives direct payment from the company with which they are insured, eliminating the need for victims to establish another's liability or fault through a civil case.

Following his visit to the OFW, the Senate President headed to Iloilo where he distributed notebooks to students at Jaro Elementary School.

News Latest News Feed