CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Officials of the Provincial Government of Pampanga are now working closely with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) to provide more assistance to Kapampangan workers abroad.

CFO is a government agency under the Office of the President. Officials of the CFO met with Pampanga counterparts Monday, September 23, to discuss current programs.

According to a statement from the Provincial Information Office, emigrant services officer Princess Mayumi Kaye Peralta discussed with Pampanga officials their online service called Balinkbayan, a Filipino overseas one-stop online portal that offers different services to assist overseas Filipino workers, youths, migrants, and retirees who want to start a business, invest, volunteer, donate or access other government online services and become CFO's partners.

According to Peralta, the services were the results of their survey conducted among overseas Filipinos regarding the services they want to get or access on the website.

"Gusto nilang magtayo ng business, gusto nilang mag-invest, gusto nilang mag-donate, gusto nilang mag-volunteer. Pero di nila alam kung saan. Kaya dun sa portal po, at least may information po na available kung sino ang pupuntahan nila, kung ano ang proseso," said Peralta.

The CFO also has localized websites that connect them to their partner local government units (LGUs).

Peralta said that in Pampanga, they are already partners with the municipality of Mabalacat and are set to conduct capacity building on Friday, September 27, to officially create the Mabalacat City Balinkbayan website.

"Yung partnership po with us through the Balinkbayan is free. So pwede pong maki-partner yung Pampanga," Peralta added.

The partnership of CFO with the LGUs aims to capacitate the local officials through trainings to help them manage appointed offices like the Public Employment Service Office (PESO).

As a counterpart on the partnership, the LGUs would provide the venue and participants for the trainings.

Moreover, to inform the public about their agency and its services, the CFO conducts annual Community Education Program (CEP) nationwide wherein they hold seminar and symposium in school and different barangays to tackle migration-related matters and provide assistance to potential migrants.

Prospective Filipino emigrants may register on the website of CFO for Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS), Guidance and Counseling Program (GCP), J1 Visa - Exchange Visitor Program (EVP), and Country Familiarization Program (CFS) for Au Pairs.

Present earlier was Claire Ruzzel Esturas, Gender and Development Specialist from the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), the main policymaking and coordinating body on women's concerns.

She said that PCW joined the CFO in their information dissemination campaign regarding immigration to "ensure that they are considering the differentiated needs and ensure that the programs they provide are gender-responsive."