MANILA, 9 June 2004 — At least two party-list lawmakers said yesterday they are pushing for the creation of a special committee in the House of Representatives to look into the concerns of Overseas Filipino Workers, or OFWs.

Reps. Loretta Ann Rosales and Mario Aguja, both representing the party-list group Akbayan, said a resolution calling for the creation of such committee is now being drafted for filing when the 13th Congress opens at the end of July.

“This is in preparation for the eventual upgrading to a regular committee,” Aguja told Arab News. “The treatment of OFWs should really be special.”

Rosales said the need for this committee is “obvious.”

“It is no longer sufficient to rely on the Committee on Labor and the Committee on Foreign Affairs to act on OFW issues,” she added.

She noted that lack of quorum during hearings of the two committees have often been a big problem.

Besides, Aguja said, members of the labor committee say OFW complaints are a diplomatic matter while members of the foreign affairs committee say they are a labor matter.

“Returning OFWs with complaints do not know where to go, whom to approach,” Aguja said.

He expressed confidence that the resolution would be approved immediately in light of more than $7 billion in remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) last year.

The proposed creation was “timely and appropriate,” Aguja said, adding that it would serve as the “recognition of our government of the large role played by OFWs.”

Rosales echoed this, saying, “we now have more than 8 million Filipinos abroad and it seems the policy of the government is to send more Filipinos abroad.”

Aguja revealed the plans of Akbayan, during a press conference called by the Alliance of Migrant Workers and Advocates to Amend RA 8042 (the Migrant Workers Act) to mark the 9th year anniversary of the enactment of RA 8042.

During the press conference, Amend convenor Florence May Cortina expressed “disgust over the government’s neglect to promote the interest of OFWs and to safeguard them from abusive employers.”

“All these prove that the OFWs are not given any importance by a government that has always claimed that they are extending all the necessary support to all our OFWs,” Amend said in a statement.

Amend also distributed copies of the OFW political agenda for the 13th Congress which is a list of proposals to underscore the fact that the OFW is a human being and not a commodity.

The agenda includes a repeal of the provisions on deregulation of the overseas placement industry, increase in the minimum age for overseas performing artists (OPAs), imposition of more stringent penalties for unscrupulous recruiters, and scrapping of the Omnibus Policies of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).