News Archive

Seafarers Sergio Paloma and Reynaldo Uy with OWWA Officer Eric Medio

A total of twenty-two (22) Filipino seafarers who were kidnapped by Somalian pirates arrived in two separate batches last Saturday, 18 October 2008. The said seafarers were crew of two ships, the MV Deyanat and the MV Stella Maris.

Director Albert Valenciano escorts the returning OFWs from Romania.

On October 14 and 15, 2008, a total of seventy eight (78) Filipino sewers working for a garments factory in Bucharest, Romania returned to the Philippines after having worked for less than five (5) months before they were repatriated.

Seventy eight (78) Filipinos sewers will arrive in two batches on October 14 and 15 from Bucharest, Romania barely five (5) months after they started working for a Romanian garments factory. They are accompanied by Atty. Cesar Chavez and Dir. Albert Valenciano of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Administrator Carmelita S. Dimzon taking her oath before Secretary Marianito D. Roque last 18 September 2008.

Last 18 September 2008, OWWA entered a new era when Carmelita Dimzon was sworn in by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Roque as OWWA's tenth Administrator. Dimzon is also OWWA's first woman administrator.

Dimzon, a native of Pampanga, graduated magna cum laude in 1968 with a degree in Bachelor of Arts major in English and minor in Philospophy at the University of Santo Tomas. She proceeded to earn her Masters in Public Administration in 1980 and her Doctorate degree in the same field in 2003, at the University of the Philippines.

OWWA currently has 397 EDSP Scholars nationwide.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) shall award one hundred fifty (150) slots to qualified dependents of OFW-Members who shall enroll in any four (4) to five (5) year baccalaureate course for School year 2009-2010.

Secretary Roque with the rest of the MYPA participants.

The whole OWWA family wishes to congratulate Secretary Marianito D. Roque as he handover the reins of OWWA and assume a greater role as the full-time Secretary of Labor and Employment.

What is suppose to be an unemotional undertaking of assessing OWWA’s performance for the first half of the year became a dramatic sight as Secretary Roque announced to the unit, division and regional heads of OWWA in this year’s Mid-Year Performance Assessment (MYPA) seminar that he will be leaving OWWA soon to be the full-time Secretary of Labor and Employment.

Senator Estrada with the repatriated OFWs from UAE

Last 04 July 2008, some 14 documented and six undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFW) were given tickets bound for Manila from the United Arab Emirates courtesy of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.

Sen. Estrada, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development and the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment, had initiated a fund to aid workers in the UAE who are victims of abuse and maltreatment.

MUSTAPHA UH GLANG

MUSTAPHA “Taps” UH GLANG was born on October 28, 1950 in Cotabato City to Abdullah Hussein and Rugaya Paki Usman. A native Maguindanoan, he finished his primary studies at the Sultan Kudarat Elementary School in 1965 and his secondary studies in 1969 at the Cotabato Public High School. In 1973 he graduated with a degree in Accounting at the Notre Dame University in Cotabato City where he was also working at the same time as a bookkeeper at the Mindanao Transportation Operators Association.

Parade of OFW Family Circles from Metro Manila

OWWA spearheaded a nationwide celebration of the Migrant Workers Day, last June 7,2008 lauding the courage, perseverence and patriotism of our millions of OFWs in many parts of the globe.

The grand event that was held simultaneously in seventeen regions is a moving tribute to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who put up with all sorts of hardships to make money for the loved ones they’ve left in the Philippines. It is the government’s way of giving recognition to the real gem of the nation who have kept the economy afloat. The OFWs, considered treasures by the Arroyo administration, through OWWA’s program and services and protection it provides, were honored this Migrant Workers Day.

OFW Amador Javier

Last 07 June 2008, during the 13th Migrant Workers Day celebrations, OWWA gave recognition to the overseas Filipino workers, and their families, in their role in nation building. Likewise various awards were given to OFW organizations and individuals alike Among the major awards conferred was to the oldest surviving Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW). Former OFW Amado J. Javier, at ninety-five (95) years old, was the recipient of such distinction in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The Philippine government recognizes the importance of the Migrant Workers and their families. It is the first country to acknowledge the need to manage the deployment of its migrant workers through the establishment of the Overseas Employment Development Board (OEDB) and the National Seamen Board (NSB), the predecessors of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). It is the first country in the world to create a Welfare Fund for its migrant workers which eventually evolved into the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). The appointment of Labor Attachés and Welfare Officers from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and OWWA to countries with heavy concentrations of Filipino Workers to monitor their welfare emphasized how the Philippines values their contribution. And with the eventual enactment of Republic Act No. 8042 otherwise known as “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995,” protection of Filipino Nationals overseas became the third pillar of Philippine Foreign diplomacy and institutionalized the role of government through its agencies to attend to their well-being. The day of ratification of Republic Act No. 8042 also came to be known as Migrant Workers Day.

Of the 88.6 million Filipinos in the country as of the third quarter of 2007, there is an estimated five million overseas Filipino workers (OFW) abroad right now. Since the 1970’s, when the Philippines began deploying OFWs, many Filipinos followed suit year after year at an increasing rate. In 2006, POEA recorded 1,221,417 OFW contracts for employment overseas.

Batch 1 of EDSP and Batch 4 of CMWSP Graduates

A total of twenty-three (23) Education for Development Scholarship Program and Congressional Workers Migrant Scholarship Program scholars were honored during OWWA’s 26th Founding Anniversary held last 02 May 2008 at the Palacio de Manila.

File photo of PGMA with then DOLE Sec. Brion, OWWA Administrator Roque, and NAIA Gen. Manager Cusi welcoming recipient OFWs of an OWWA facilitated mass repatriation last 04 April 2007.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has taken measures to facilitate the repatriation of a total of seventy-four (74) Filipino-deportees from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by April.

According to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Jeddah, the first batch of 27 deportees will arrive on 11 April 2008. Acting Labor Secretary and OWWA Administrator Marianito D. Roque has committed to provide financial assistance to the deportees upon their arrival. The overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who are active OWWA members shall be covered by OWWA while the rest shall be taken care of by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Eleuterio “Eli (pronounced as E-lai)” N. Gardiner, who hails from Tarlac, was born on February 20, 1939. He finished his elementary and high school at Lamao Barrio High School and graduated from the Far Eastern University with a degree on BS Business Administration.

Dubbed as the “Jerry Lewis” of the Philippines for his musical prowess, Eli Gardiner was a former Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) who worked abroad as a member of the Five Brown Boys, the First Filipino band to play in Japan. He later formed the Eli Gardiner and the President’s Band which became very popular in Okinawa and Taipei.

DOLE Undersecretary Lourdes M. Trasmonte handing over the DOLE colors to OWWA Administrator and now Acting Secretary Marianito D. Roque in a turnover ceremony held last 24 March 2008.

The reward of hard work, perseverance and loyalty to the Filipino people is how Marianito D. Roque regards every success that has come into his career as a public servant.

Born on December 8, 1954 of Mauro J. Roque, a contractor-entrepreneur, and Eliza Dineros, a homemaker, Nitoy, as peers, friends and family call him, completed elementary and secondary studies at the Lamao Bataan High School in 1971, in Limay, Bataan.

He studied at the De La Salle College in Manila, obtaining his bachelor's degree in economics in 1975. In 1978, he completed his master's degree in business administration at the Ateneo de Manila University.