PRESS RELEASE
WDC – 30-2021
8 July 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As an introduction of the month-long celebration of the National Migrant Worker’s Day on June 2021, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO)-Washington DC sponsored a series of webinars on financial literacy and social services of the Philippine government to Overseas Filipino workers in the United States and the Caribbean Islands.
Entitled Coming Home: Preparing for Successful Return & Reintegration conducted last 28 May 2021, resource speaker, Ms. Mai Dizon-Anonuevo, Executive Director of Global Academy on Migration and Development talked about the reintegration preparation strategies for a successful return to the Philippines for good. She emphasized the importance on the role of the families left behind of the overseas Filipino workers in reaching their financial goals and facing the challenges in their eventual returning home for good.
On the other hand, various government agencies such as the Social Security System (SSS), Philhealth , Overseas Filipino Bank , Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) AND TESDA featured social protection programs , social services as well as investment options available specifically to OFWs in separate webinars held consecutively last May 22 and May 29, 2021. Representatives noted that their members are not only considered pensioners but also investors because “the government-backed savings scheme isn’t like any typical savings account but rather a low risk with high-return investment”
CDA Chairperson Joseph Encabo also welcomed the idea of collaboration between POLO and CDA stating that “cooperatives go beyond lending and credit. In our aim to bring to bring CDAs closer to OFWS, we will be opening channels xx that will allow CDA to carry out our role in positioning, uplifting and developing the social standing of willing cooperatives and its members through job creation and livelihood programs.” ###