Three government agencies serving overseas Filipinos signed their own partnership agreements with the Catholic Church’s migrant ministry on Sunday, September 27, in Quezon City, linking state offices and church networks in a shared system for assisting migrant workers and their families.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) each entered into an accord with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines–Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (CBCP-ECMI).
The signings took place during the commission’s Luzon celebration of the 40th National Migrants’ Sunday and the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
OWWA Deputy Administrator Jasmine Ann Gapatan and CBCP-ECMI chairman Bishop Socrates C. Mesiona, MSP, put their names to the welfare agency’s Memorandum of Agreement.
OWWA said the arrangement aims to give OFWs and their relatives a dependable support system at every stage of working abroad, starting with preparation before departure, continuing through their employment overseas, and extending to their safe return and resettlement in the Philippines.
The agency thanked the bishops’ commission for its long record of caring for Filipino migrants and described the agreement as a shared commitment that no OFW or Filipino family should have to face difficulties alone.
Under the memorandum, the two sides will exchange information, refer cases to each other and coordinate how assistance is delivered. The referral system is designed to connect workers and their families more quickly with welfare, protection, reintegration, psychosocial, pastoral, livelihood and family support services.
