Saturday, Jan 18, 2014
Manila: The Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said it has made the process of securing clearances and paying fees less tedious for returning workers.
POEA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said through the online Balik-Manggagawa (BM or returning worker) system, overseas Filipino workers (OFW) returning to the same employer can now simply log on to the POEA website and proceed to fill out forms and submit their documents for processing.
Earlier, OFWs returning to work for the same employer had to bear with travelling to POEA Central Office in Mandaluyong or at the POEA regional and satellite offices.
“The balik manggagawa or the returning worker needs only to proceed to pay the fees electronically and print out the OEC (overseas employment certificate) either at the comfort of their homes or wherever they are conducting the online transaction,” Labour and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz explained.
The POEA is one of several agencies under the supervision of the Department of Labour and Employment.
“The usual long queue of OFWs at the POEA counters waiting for the processing of their overseas employment certificates will be a thing of the past,” Dimapilis-Baldoz said.
The OEC printout will contain a special bar code, this will then be presented by the returning worker to the immigration officer at the airport upon departure. As soon as the immigration officer opens the POEA database and finds the returnee’s “new record”, the OFW will be cleared for exit.
Cacdac said an estimated 500,000 Filipino workers are expected to benefit from this less-tedious, no-fuzz system.
“The BM online system not only speeds up the process of securing OECs, but more significantly, it provides convenience to our vacationing OFWs. Very soon, our workers will be able to accomplish this transaction from any location where there is online connection,” the labour and employment chief said.
“This will also provide timely updating of the OFW and employer database of POEA,” she added.
According to Baldoz, there are certain cases when returning workers will still have to undergo the previous process of making an appointment and personally attend to the processing of his or her papers at the POEA Central Office in Mandaluyong.
These circumstances include when the returning OFW are changing employers and the match cannot be found at the POEA database, cases where the OFWs have not passed through POEA and if the individuals whose papers are being processed is a household service worker.
“OFWs still have the option of not going through the appointment system at the POEA Central Office and instead secure their OECs from our Philippine Overseas Labour Offices or POEA regional and satellite offices,” Dimapilis-Baldoz clarified.
By Gilbert P. Felongco Correspondent
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
