By Gail Momblan/ PNA
ILOILO CITY — The Public Employment Service Office (PESO) in Iloilo province empowered more than 100 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and their family members on financial and family management during a training held here Thursday.
Jayrel Javier Encontro, PESO-Iloilo labor and employment officer, said OFWs encounter various factors that can affect their financial and family situation.
“Aside from financial literacy, our OFWs, as well as their families were taught how to cope being apart,” he said in an interview.
Encontro said most of the participants were families of returning domestic workers because they are more prone to financial mismanagement.
Jose Felino Resol Jr., area development coordinator of non-government organization Atikha, added that household mismanagement of OFW families sometimes end up in failed marriages and unhealthy relationships with children.
“Distance and financial mismanagement often become the root of family misunderstandings. We teach the families of OFWs where to invest and how to save their remittances, among others,” he said.
Atikha, along with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and UN Women Fund for Gender Equality, were among the partners of PESO-Iloilo in conducting the family and income management training.
After the training, a series of programs, including reintegration counseling, investment opportunity forum, and OFW families’ skills training, will be conducted.
The training, conducted at the Casa Real de Iloilo here, was attended by OFWs and PESO managers from Oton, Tigbauan, Miagao, Pavia, Cabatuan, Maasin, Pototan, Leganes, Tubungan, Passi City, and Duenas. There were also guest participants from Guimaras and Iloilo City.
Encontro said these towns had already established OFW organizations.
Resol urged other local government units to also set up migrants’ desks in their municipalities and organize OFWs and their families.
The migrants’ desk will not only assist the OFWs in their family and financial management but also orient them of the positive and negative impacts of migration, he added.
Citing the OWWA 2017 report, Encontro said OFWs in Iloilo province and Iloilo City totaled 180,000.
