Three new programs for overseas Filipino workers were formally launched on Monday as the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration commemorated the 10th anniversary of the law that governs its mandate.
OWWA Administrator Patricia Yvonne M. Caunan signed three Memoranda of Instructions during the anniversary observance of Republic Act No. 10801, or the OWWA Act, which was enacted on May 10, 2016.
The first memorandum covers the Skills Training and Employability Promotion and Upskilling Program, known as STEP UP. The second deals with an education component of the same program — the Lifelong Learning Education Assistance Program for Overseas Filipino Workers, or LEAP-OFWs. The third issues supplemental guidelines amending the implementing rules of MOI No. 008, Series of 2026, which governs the Balik-Pinas, Balik-Hanapbuhay reintegration program.
The three initiatives fall under OWWA’s welfare and reintegration portfolio and are framed within the government’s National Reintegration Network, built on the pillars of care, knowledge, and livelihood — rendered in Filipino as “Kalinga, Kaalaman at Kabuhayan.” The programs are said to be aligned with directives from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ensure returning OFWs have adequate mechanisms to build on their skills and sustain their livelihoods upon rejoining their families and communities.
OWWA described the anniversary as marking a decade of welfare assistance, accompaniment, and support for OFWs and their dependents around the world.
