OWWA CARAGA RELEASES LIVELIHOOD ASSISTANCE TO DISPLACED OFWS

The Regional Welfare Office (RWO) Caraga together with The National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) Caraga, through its focal persons OWWO II Jean Mary R. Ladion and the NRCO Regional Coordinator/ LEO III Anne Jane M. Hallasgo, relentlessly provide the necessary reintegration services in a form of livelihood projects, entrepreneurial webinars, and cash assistance to enable qualified OFW returnees from the different provinces in the region to be entrepreneurs as they reintegrate back to the mainstream society. for OFW Reintegration (LPOR) is a program of the OWWA-NRCO for returning undocumented OFWs and those who do not qualify under OWWA’s livelihood program which aims to enable livelihood protection and improve livelihood promotion in aid of OFW reintegration. The said program consists of two components/ interventions: the Livelihood Development Assistance Program (LDAP) and the Balik PINAY, Balik Hanapbuhay (BPBH) Program. Both programs must be availed within three years from the OFWs’ latest arrival in the country. OFW is defined as those who acquired their passports through fraud or misrepresentation; those who possess expired visa or permits to stay; those who have no travel documents whatsoever; those who have a valid but inappropriate visa; or those employment contracts which were not processed by the POEA or subsequently verified and registered on-site by POLO, if required by law or regulation.

The Livelihood Development Assistance Program (LDAP) was established in 2011 through the Administrative Order No. 77 series 2011

which aims to provide livelihood assistance to returning OFWs. It has been reformulated in 2014 to accommodate undocumented OFWs. For Balik PINAY! Balik Hanapbuhay, qualified are those displaced and distressed women OFW returnees with priority given to distressed women domestic workers and those who were sheltered at the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Resource Centers (MWOFRCs) of the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) and those who were repatriated through amnesty programs i.e. grant of Amnesty Program of the host country.

The qualified applicants are required to comply with pertinent documents to the nearest National Reintegration Center for OFWs office in their area. The beneficiaries will receive Php10,000 worth of livelihood starter kits in the form of a cheque. They are also required to attend the Small Business Management Training and Financial Awareness Seminar to prepare them for managing a small business enterprise as a prerequisite in receiving assistance under the LPOR. Hanapbuhay! (BPBH) Program, which is part of the core program of OWWA that is the Reintegration Program, is a package of livelihood assistance consisting of cash assistance, Entrepreneurship Development Training, and other services to help returning distressed and displaced OFWs to start their own business here in the Philippines.

Under the Amended Implementing Guidelines of BPBH (MOI 003 series 2019), the cash assistance will amount to PhP20,000 for active member-OFWs, PhP10,000 for non-active member-OFWs with more than one contribution and PhP 5,000 for non-active member-OFWs with one contribution effective February 28, 2019.

Eligible beneficiaries under the program are those who were displaced by hostilities or wars or political conflicts, policy reforms or changes by host governments; victims of illegal recruitment or human trafficking or other distressful situations; those who are at the distressed wards at the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Resource Centers who are due for repatriation; and those OWWA members who were employed by foreign employers which are facing financial difficulties due to economic conditions.

For interested applicants, you may visit OWWA Regional Welfare Office Caraga located at Nimfa Tiu Bldg.2, JP Rosales Ave., Butuan City, or contact these hotlines: 095030575 33/09551884858/09123289 262. (OWWA-Caraga/PIACaraga)