MANILA, 8 December 2002 — Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) hired through placement agencies for the first time are now also covered by the e-card being issued by the Overseas Workers Welfare Association (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz of the POEA said the e-card, issued free of charge, is meant to “ensure faster and better deliveries of services to these OFWs.”
Initially, the card was available only to those returning to their posts abroad.
Baldoz said newly deployed “name hires” or “direct hires,” or those who are not hired through placement agencies, are still not covered but when they go on vacation and return to their posts, they can avail themselves of the card.
New OWWA Administrator Virgilio Angelo also said the agency has received favorable feedback about the card from Filipinos abroad.
The e-card is supposed to facilitate the issuance of documents relative to an OFW’s employment abroad, such as the overseas employment certificate (OEC), which can now be accessed at the swipe of the magnetic strip on the e-card.
Angelo added that OFWs with the e-card can now access OWWA programs and services upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The program was first conceptualized in January and was implemented in May for all vacationing OFWs confirming their status as overseas workers.
The OEC was encoded in the card so that the OFW no longer had to present a hard copy of the OEC to the Bureau of Immigration at the airport.
The e-card was initially conceived as a means of keeping track of an OFW’s contributions to OWWA as well as the payment for the OEC.
Director Carmelina Velasquez of OWWA said the two agencies have a common database which will be used for this.
When it was first implemented, vacationing OFWs got their cards within three minutes upon completing their requirements for overseas employment at the POEA, Velasquez said.
