Filipino educators who built careers overseas will not have to fight for a slot when they come home to teach, officials in the Cordillera Administrative Region said Thursday, pointing to a government pathway that reserves teaching items specifically for them.
DMW-CAR Regional Director Cheryl Daytec-Yangot explained that applicants endorsed through the Sa ‘Pinas, Ikaw ang Ma’am at Sir (SPIMS) program move through the standard hiring procedure but are shielded from the open competition that typically surrounds each available post. “They go through the same process as local the local applicants but they are assured an item and will not compete with others for the position unlike the local applicants wherein several applicants vie for one item,” she said.
She stressed that the teaching items filled this way are generated from genuine staffing requirements, meaning local jobseekers lose nothing when an OFW is brought in. Eligibility extends to teachers who came back to the country within the previous three years, and a person’s standing in their foreign job has no bearing on whether their application proceeds, she said.
The assurance of a position was echoed by Arnel Billy Lim, human resource officer at DepEd-CAR, who described the endorsement from the Department of Migrant Workers as the decisive step. “Once the DMW gives the pre-screened list sigurado na ‘yan, may trabaho sila sa DepEd (Once the DMW gives the pre-screened list, they are assured of a job in the DepEd),” he told a press briefing.
Applicants begin with the DMW, which puts qualified OFWs through reskilling before forwarding their names to DepEd’s central office. From there, the names are routed to the relevant division offices, where deployment is arranged. “Once they are endorsed by the DMW to the DepEd national, they are assured of a job in the DepEd,” Lim said.
The transition back into a Philippine classroom comes with a support structure, he added. Teachers who spent long stretches abroad, or who worked in jobs unrelated to education, are given a teacher induction program, professional development sessions, and briefings on current teaching methods. “Rest assured the department is ready to help,” Lim said.
Hiring figures from the region show the program in motion. Ninety-seven OFWs were taken on as Cordillera teachers in 2025, and a further 104 have been signed for school year 2026-2027, with their reporting deadline set before Aug. 28.
Both Lim and Daytec-Yangot framed SPIMS as one piece of a wider effort, the “Bayanihan para sa Balikbayang Manggagawa” component of the National Reintegration Program, which seeks to turn the money, connections, and expertise OFWs gathered overseas into assets for rebuilding their lives once they settle back home. Lim noted the program operates under the National Reintegration Network in coordination with the DMW, with the goal of drawing Filipino teachers abroad back into the country’s education sector.
