THE Provincial Government, directed by Governor Eugenio Jose Bong Lacson, led the drive highlighting the Gender Responsive Migrant Resource Center (MRC) held in San Carlos City on August 31, 2021, in partnership with the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Negros Occidental Federation.
The Provincial Committee on Migration and Development (PCMD), MRC Team and representatives of selected national government agencies and non-government organizations with programs and services for migrant workers likewise facilitated the conduct of the said forum.
Lacson, the PCMD chairman, said the provincial government is reaching out to distressed OFWs, particularly those affected by the global pandemic.
Aside from financial assistance, livelihood and training, the province is offering a scholarship to children and has established an OFW help desk at the Provincial Capitol, which is open from Monday to Thursday.
Representatives from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), Department of Trade and Industry, and Voice of the Free joined the said information caravan.
The activity is also connected with the Provincial Migration and Development Initiatives program and a particular project with the International Labor Organization on "Establishing and Institutionalizing Gender Responsive MRC, Help Desks, and Services to Women Migrant Workers in Negros Occidental."
San Carlos City Mayor Renato Gustilo; Owwa-Western Visayas Officer-In-Charge Regional Director Rizza Joy Moldes; NRCO Representative Dave Saturnino, Ma. Berjane Roa of the Voice of the Free; Sally Barrios of the Federation of OFW-Negros Occidental; Executive Assistant to the Governor Marie June Castro; Provincial Planning and Development Office OFW Focal Ana Lim; and Engr. Jose Maria Amugod, April Joy Duran, and Jennifer Melliza of the Negros Occidental Special Programs and Concerns Division attended the said forum.