By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter
Laoag
City—At least 13 overseas Filipino workers from
war-torn Libya are now reunited with their families back here in Ilocos Norte,
the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration reported.
Nona Marie Ganal, overseas
workers welfare officer in Ilocos Norte said the OWWA is now processing their
immediate financial assistance worth P10,000 each. OWWA is also giving them an
orientation on stress debriefing programs which they may want to avail from the
government.
OWWA records show that
a total of 452 OFWs working in Thailand are from Region I. Nineteen
of them are from Ilocos Norte, 95 from Ilocos Sur, 112 from La Union and
226 are from Pangasinan.
Aside from the 13 Ilocos
Norte OFWs who came from Libya, there were eight more returnees from
Pangasinan, two from Ilocos Sur, two from La Union.
“We are expecting more OFWs
from Ilocos Norte to come home,” Ms. Ganal said. OWWA assists OFWs
starting from the pre-departure stage to ensure their safety and success
until they return home.
As part of the re-integration
package for repatriated OFWs, the Technical Education Skills and Development
Authority (TESDA) is also offering skills training which they can use for local
employment or starting a business on their own.
According to OWWA, the agency
has set aside P2 billion for the re-integration program of distressed and
returning OFWs to help them start a brand new life back home.
However, Ms. Ganal said most
of the OFWs are hesitant to accept the local employment offer as they still
prefer to work abroad.
In view of this, the
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has been assisting some of them
to seek for re-employment abroad but this time, in a safer
environment.
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