Financial management was the field Richmond Dave Japos chose to build his future in, and this year he walked away from Holy Cross of Davao College with a degree in it — a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration completed under the weight of a loss that could have ended his studies entirely.
His mother, an overseas Filipino worker and an active member of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, died while Richmond was still pursuing his education. Rather than let grief derail him, he turned to the agency his mother had belonged to. Through the OWWA Education and Livelihood Assistance Program, or ELAP, he was able to stay enrolled and keep moving toward the degree he eventually earned.
For Richmond, the support reached beyond tuition. “When I lost my OFW mother, the ELAP program became one of my support. It didn’t just help me continue my studies, it also lifted a burden from my heart and reminded me I wasn’t alone in my grief,” he said.
His connection to the agency deepened when he served as an intern at the OWWA Regional Welfare Office XI. There, he watched the people behind the programs work directly with overseas workers and their families. “They showed me what a government office should truly be—compassionate, reliable, and wholeheartedly for the people,” he said.
ELAP is built around families like his. The program assists dependents of deceased OFWs who held active OWWA membership at the time of death, pairing educational grants for a qualified child with livelihood support for surviving family members — a design meant to help households rebuild rather than simply survive a crisis.
OWWA continues to expand its scholarship and educational assistance offerings so that more children and qualified dependents of overseas workers can reach graduation. In Richmond’s case, the agency framed his achievement as evidence that social protection functions as a long-term investment in a family’s future, not only emergency relief at the moment of loss.
Addressing the office that carried him through, Richmond offered his gratitude directly: “Thank you, OWWA. Continue to be the hope and home for every OFW family left behind.”
