DOLE to set up Internet-based monitoring of OFWs, employers

Amid reports of rising cases of maltreatment of Filipino household service workers (HSW), the government’s top labor agency revealed plans of implementing an Internet-based monitoring system of assisting overseas Filipino workers in distress. In a statement posted on the Department of Labor and Employment website, Secretary Marianito Roque said efforts have been set in place to improve the delivery of services to beleaguered OFWs onsite. A Foreign Labor Operations Information System (FLOIS) is set to be implemented to improve the management and operations of 38 Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) in various posts overseas, particularly in extending assistance to needy OFWs on-site, he said. Roque said the system will be integrated with the DOLE’s Information Systems Plan. He explained that FLOIS will provide Internet-based information on profiles of OFWs and their foreign employers, and a listing of local and foreign recruitment agencies. Roque bared this as he cited a report alleging that some Filipino household service workers (HSWs) have been maltreated by their employers in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. There was no mention of the real names of the HSWs, or of the report being cited. He said, however, that he has instructed Riyadh-based Labor Attache Rustico dela Fuente to determine which particular cases the report was referring to. Roque also called on OFWs and their families to contact the nearest POLO, or the DOLE and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in the Philippines, for assistance in all cases of abuse and exploitation they may encounter in the hands of their employers.—Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV