MALACAÑANG said on Monday that while Vice President Jejomar Binay is free to seek Palace reconsideration of his proposal to create a bank for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), for now, it believes that the needs of the OFWs are already being addressed.
Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a news briefing that the Palace decision to thumb down Binay’s proposal was made after consultations with concerned government agencies, such as the Department of Finance and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
“It will be up to the Vice President to discuss it with the Executive Secretary [Paquito Ochoa Jr.], if he wishes to push further his idea of an OFW bank. But the needs of the OFWs are being addressed right now,” Lacierda said.
When asked, Lacierda said Malacañang expects Binay to pursue his proposal, especially as he is the presidential adviser on OFW concerns.
“If he believes strongly on that, certainly it will be up to him to decide what are the actions he will do,” he said.
Malacañang had shelved Binay’s proposal to create an OFW savings bank, citing certain issues raised by the DOF and the BSP; and the existence of “adequate financial and credit facilities and services to meet OFW needs.”
Meanwhile, Binay expressed hopes that the decline in the deployment of Filipino migrant workers, particularly in conflict-affected countries in the Middle East and North African (Mena) region will be temporary, citing that outbound Filipino workers can seek more stable receiving countries, like Qatar.
Binay, who is also the presidential adviser OFWs, said the number of OFWs to Mena countries declined by 15,000 from the first three months of 2010 to the same period in 2011 (from 395,189 in 2010 to 380,188 of the same period this year).
“The conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa are nearing their end. That’s why I think the decreasing number of deployment of OFWs abroad will soon end,” Binay said.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration confirmed the number of OFWs leaving the country to work abroad that Binay cited.
The series of unrest in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon and Bahrain has been a major factor of the decline, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The DFA and the Department of Labor and Employment temporarily suspended the deployment of OFWs to these countries to ensure their safety.
Binay said OFWs from the trouble-ridden areas in the Mena region are now being redeployed to other countries.
For instance, he said Qatar would be in need of thousands of workers in preparation to the hosting of the 2022 World Cup.
