President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that he will create a separate department for Filipinos working overseas.
Speaking in a press conference, Duterte said he will be creating the Department of Overseas Workers, whose office may be housed in the Philippine Post Office Building in Manila.
“It will perform functions traditionally done for the OFWs, by the foreign affairs department; and the Labour Department which oversees other agencies that have been created for the needs of the OFWs such as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA),” Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello told Gulf News.
Saying that very few people now send letters on a slow system, Duterte added that he aims to transform the Post Office building into something more useful and functional.
“I plan to convert it into something very functional, very useful to the Filipino. Gusto ko ‘yung public, applying for overseas, huwag ninyong pabalik-balikin. Gusto ko ‘yung Department of Foreign Affairs, ‘yung health services, ‘yung mga clearances sa pulis, mauna. Gamitin niyo ‘yung mga computer na ‘yan,” he said.
In the same light, the Mayor said he will crack down on illegal recruiters in the similar manner he will do with thieves and kidnappers.
Duterte earlier said he will be offering his running mate, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, the top posts of the new Department of Foreign Affairs or Department of Justice.
He is also planning on appointing an acting secretary to head the department Cayetano will choose until the latter can be appointed as secretary. Candidates who lost in an election cannot be appointed to government within a year.
Cayetano came third in the vice-presidential elections, losing to either Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party or Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. He has conceded to Robredo.
Source: ABS-CBN
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