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A meaningful Christmas gift for OFWs: Sen. Joel Villanueva thanks colleagues for their help and contribution in perfecting Senate Bill No. 2234, creating the Department of Migrant Workers. Villanueva, chairman of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development and sponsor of the bill, hailed the passage of the measure as a recognition to the contribution of overseas Filipino workers to the national economy and as a meaningful Christmas gift for them. He said the proposed department seeks to be a “dedicated service arm” for 10 million Filipinos overseas who account for 10 percent of the population and whose remittances comprise 12 percent of the national income. “This moment is for every Filipino abroad who has sacrificed so much for their family and our beloved country. This bill is a chance to change for the better the way our OFWs, our modern-day heroes, are recruited, repatriated and reintegrated,” Villanueva said after the Senate passed the bill with a vote of 20-0 Tuesday, December 14, 2021. With Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as the backbone, a total of seven offices are consolidated and merged as the Department of Migrant Workers. These are the Department of Foreign Affairs-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs, POEA, Philippine Overseas Labor & Office (POLO), International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB), National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) and the National Maritime Polytechnic under DOLE, and the Office of the Social Welfare Attache of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will be an attached agency of the new department. (A. Calvelo, V. Domingo/Senate PRIB)