Villar laments SONA snub of OFWs

While he concedes that "not all issues and not all sectors" can be accommodated in the State of the Nation Address, Senate President Manny Villar still expressed sadness over the omission of "the sacrifices of Overseas Filipino Workers " in President Arroyo's speech.

"It was a speech peppered with 'Thank yous' but not one went to those who are eking out a living abroad and the families they've left behind who are living the pain of forced separation," he said.

"It seems that the SONA was only meant for those living within the country's boundaries. It didn't reach across the seas where there are 7.9 million Filipinos who pay their citizenship dues in the form of foreign exchange remittances to the homeland," Villar said.

Not counting the money sent home via informal channels, Filipinos abroad remitted $14.5 billion through banks last year. This year, OFW remittances in the first five months had increased 14.7 percent year-on-year to $6.8 billion.

"What they plowed back to the economy - P652 billion- is something you can't miss on the financial radar but one that the president's teleprompter sadly didn't catch," Villar said

But Villar said Malacañang can "make up for the oversight" by proposing programs in the 2009 national budget that would promote OFW welfare.

"One good starting point is to increase the repatriation fund for OFWs in distress to P1 billion," Villar said, adding a fund for the creation of an OFW Hospital should also be made available.

Villar earlier revealed that 4,770 Filipinos- 954 women - were languishing in jails in 63 countries and territories as of June 2007.

"The package of pro-OFW measures should send the message to every OFW out there that they are not forgotten by the government," he said.