The eMagazine of Philippine Information Agency 10
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2016
One-stop service center for OFWs launched in CDO
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, November – The One-Stop Service Center for OFWs launched on 25 November 2016 at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) -X, 2F Trinidad Building, Corrales Avenue, Cagayan de Oro City.
“The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) spearheads the one-stop service center to aid our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in procuring the necessary documents in a quick and efficient way for them to work abroad,” DOLE Regional Office No. X Director Raymundo G. Agravante said. Agravante further informed that this is part of the directive of DOLE Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, and as an answer to the instructions of President Rodrigo Duterte, to simplify the services offered by the government agencies for our fellow Filipinos currently working or are still planning to work abroad. Instead of visiting the various offices, the following agencies will be housed in one venue at OWWA-X to make their transactions simplified and faster: OWWA-X, Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)-X, Bureau of Immigration (BI), PAG-IBIG Fund, Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), and the Philippine National Police (PNP). Meanwhile, PhilHealth and POEA REU are still very accessible to the clients since both offices are located at the ground floor of the same building.
However, SSS and TESDA are located at Robinsons Mall – Lim Ket Kai Drive, have plans of joining the team at OWWA-X later on. DFA, still located at the 3F of Centrio Mall, along the same street of OWWA-X, provides passport processing assistance, including the Passport Validity Extension for BalikManggagawa (vacationing workers). “Agencies in the OWWA-X will be of service 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Mondays thru Fridays and except on holidays,” Agravante said. POEA provides documentation of land based and sea based workers, as well as workers-on-leave or BalikManggagawa; registration of land based worker-applicants; verification/ certification of OFW records; and provision of legal assistance and response to queries; while OWWA handles the processing or renewal of the OWWA memberships. The NBI issues the NBI clearance and facilitates on concerns on illegal recruitment/trafficking, while the PSA processes and issues Certificate of Live Birth, Certificate of Marriage, Certificate of Death, and Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR). The BI extends to OFWs the Departure Clearance Information and VAWC – Hold Order for convicted OFWs. The PRC issues new, renewal and certification of professional license while MARINA issues or revalidates the Seaman’s Book and issuance of the Certificate of Proficiency (COP).
OFW clients can avail from HDMF/Pag-ibig Fund the processing of their Pag-IBIG Membership. At PHILHEALTH, they can pay PhilHealth contribution, as well as update their membership registration. For clients wanting to access their required collegiate academic record, the CHED is ready to provide verification and authentication of school credentials services, concerns on scholarships/trainings/grants, and renewal and certification of license. The NRCO provides livelihood assistance and other reintegration services for returning OFWs. Also, TIEZA handles travel tax payment; processing of travel tax exemption and reduced travel tax. Currently added are the BIR which will assist the OFWs for their tax
related concerns and the PNP, through the Cagayan de Oro (CDO) Police (COCPO), will issue Police Clearance for CDO residents. Likewise, agencies at the Robinsons Mall’s Lingkod Pinoy Center like TESDA, provides Competency Assessment, verification of Certificates and Special Order, assistance for replacement of National Certificates/ Certificates of Competency (COC) and Training Assistance and Scholarship Program. Lastly, services that can be availed of at the SSS are registration and membership data amendment; acceptance of loan and benefits claim applications; loan verification and status; UMID capturing and card releasing; and response to queries. (Mildred E. Dablio/DOLE10)
Five biz firms in Bukidnon win DTI Bagwis Award MALAYBALAY CITY, Bukidnon – Five business establishments in Bukidnon won the Department of Trade and Industry’s 2016 Bagwis Seal of Excellence Award for the firms’ compliance to fair trade laws and upholding consumers’ rights. DTI Bukidnon Provincial Director Ermedio J. Abang, said there were four awardees in Valencia City and one in Maramag town, this province. He said the five establishments honored during the recent awards
rites at Mallberry Business Suites in Cagayan de Oro City are Puregold Valencia, D7 Gifts Store Corporation, TH Valencia, NVM Marketing Corporation, and Maramag Grocers. Puregold Valencia, D7 Gifts
Store Corporation and TH Valencia received the “Bagwis Bronze Award,” while NVM Marketing Corporation and Maramag Grocers were conferred the “Pioneering DTI Bagwis Award,” Abang said. The prestigious DTI Bagwis Service Excellence Seal is awarded to establishments that operate in clean and orderly workplaces, promote good employee-employer relationships,
excel in customer relations, and pay liabilities in Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, PhilHealth and pag-IBIG. Recognition is given to organizations that comply with trade laws, have a consumer welfare desk, and no case or violation in any trade law. (Eriberto A. Taban-ud, Jr. CTIDSDTI /RLRB, PIA 10 Bukidnon)
MOA for community fish landing center OK’d CAGAYAN DEORO CITY – Community Fish Landing Center soon to rise in Cagayan de Oro. In with the thrust to establish a Community Fish Landing Center, the 18th City Council headed by Vice Mayor Raineir Joaquin Uy on Monday enacted Ordinance No. 13142-2016 which authorizes City Mayor Oscar Moreno to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) for the purpose. The project is provided under Republic Act 8550, as amended, otherwise known as the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998. The law authorizes BFAR to establish post harvest facilities for fishing communities consistent with the policy of providing support to subsistence fisheries in the exercise of their preferential rights to benefit from the country’s fisheries resources, especially in municipal waters. Under the MOA, the DA-BFAR shall provide the city with the criteria for the
selection of the site for the Community Fish Landing Center (CFLC), review and approve the selection of the site for the CFLC in coordination with the PFDA, among others while the PFDA shall provide technical assistance in the preparation of the model design of the CFLC. For its part, the city shall supervise the construction of the CFLC with the assistance of the BFAR and PFDA to ensure full compliance by the contractor with the approved technical and engineering design and other terms and conditions in the contract, among others. The legislation was favorably reviewed and endorsed by the committees on agriculture and fisheries and on laws and rules, respectively chaired by Councilors Annie Daba and Ian Mark Nacaya. (JBD/ SP)