DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) admitted that it has limited personnel to attend all concerns of overseas Filipino workers.
Region 11 Director Petrona M. Bergado said during Monday’s press conference that there is a manpower constraint in the region resulting to limited implementation of some government programs for the OFWs and their families.
For instance, there are some backlogs in implementing the “Balik Pinas, Balik Hanapbuhay” project. Due to lack of technical personnel to evaluate, she said this imits the agency “in securing the balance of the demand of service and in following the guidelines.”
Bergado added that currently, OWWA’s concerns are increasing aside from the huge number of mass repatriated OFW’s coming home from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait as well as the unprecedented disasters happening resulting to overloading of work.
Bergado admitted that this limitation is being acknowledged by the national office yet there is no significant action being done to solve the problem.
“Right now we are looking on how to augment the shortage of personnel in the region to fully address the needs of our OFW’s,” said Bergado.
In Region 11, the new director said that there is only 1 personnel assigned per provincial OWWA office and only 2 evaluators per implemented project. This is the “main factor” in delivering service efficiently to the OFW’s.(davaotoday.com)
