More than a thousand Filipinos passed through the San Andres Sports Complex in Malate on Wednesday, August 26, as the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Manila city government ran a combined job fair and reintegration event under the banner “Bayanihan para sa Balikbayang Manggagawa: a National Reintegration Network (BBM-NRN) and Job Fair.”
Hiring results from the day included six applicants taken on immediately, listed by the DMW as Hired-on-the-Spot, alongside 86 near-hires and 218 people cleared as qualified for a range of openings. Total attendance reached 1,178, a mix of OFWs, their relatives, and jobseekers hoping to work abroad.
A separate track of the program focused on Filipinos who had already come home. Sixty-one returning OFWs, most of them driven back by unrest in the Middle East, received financial and livelihood support and sat through financial management seminars run under the Enhanced Livelihood Program for Overseas Filipino Workers Reintegration (ELPOR).
DMW-National Capital Region Regional Director Atty. Falconi Millar framed the effort as an attempt to bring state services directly to workers. “Ang Bayanihan para sa Balikbayang Manggagawa ay naglalayong ipagkaloob sa ating mga OFW ang lahat ng serbisyo ng gobyerno. Sa ilalim ng ‘one-roof concept’, pinagsama-sama natin dito ang serbisyo ng iba’t ibang sangay ng pamahalaan at ng ating mga private partner agencies,” he said.
The event also served as the venue for signing a Memorandum of Agreement between the DMW and Manila’s local government, led by Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, meant to deepen cooperation on the welfare and protection of migrant workers.
“Dahil sa inisyatibang ito ng pambansang pamahalaan, ang ating mga kababayang nagbalik sa Maynila—maging ang mga bisita nating mula sa ibang lugar—ay nabibigyan ng panibagong pagkakataon at suporta upang makabangon at muling makapamuhay nang maayos dito sa ating bansa,” Domagoso said.
The DMW has scheduled additional stops for the BBM-NRN and Job Fair in other parts of the country, with details posted on the agency’s official Facebook page at https://web.facebook.com/dmwphl.
