Overseas Filipino workers were held up as living proof of Filipino courage, diligence and hope by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) as the country observed the 128th anniversary of its independence on Friday, June 12.
Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac, in a recorded message, said genuine freedom means three things for the Filipino worker abroad: the ability to live with dignity, to work with purpose, and to dream without fear.
That, he said, is the kind of liberty the department wants every young person, every family and every migrant worker to experience as they keep striving and sacrificing to secure a better future for those they love.
Cacdac tied his message to this year’s Independence Day theme, arguing that the nation grows stronger only when it refuses to forget the lessons of its past. He said wherever they are stationed, OFWs put on display the skill, compassion, discipline and honor of the Filipino people.
The secretary also turned to the country’s heroes and to every Filipino who gave their life so that the freedom enjoyed today could be won. Their example, he said, is a standing reminder that liberty is not merely a chapter of history but a responsibility to be lived out, protected and passed on to the generation that follows.
Closing his remarks, Cacdac gave his assurance that the department would carry that freedom into practice by defending the welfare, rights and dignity of migrant Filipinos.
