With its prime location in the one-stop-shop hub for government transactions in Central Luzon, the newly inaugurated building of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Maimpis, San Fernando City, Pampanga is expected to level up its service to some 300,000 OFW residents in Region III.
This was assured by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III during the inauguration of the OWWA Regional Welfare Office 3 building on Thursday, November 4.
Bello said the establishment of a new, bigger, and better OWWA building in the heart of Central Luzon is in line with the Duterte administration’s mandate to provide the best service to the country’s ‘bagong bayani,’ including their family members.
Central Luzon is home to 13.3 percent of the estimated 2.2 million OFWs.
Next to CALABARZON, it is where the second largest concentration of OFWs come from based on the latest (2019) Survey on Overseas Filipinos by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
“I would like to congratulate our dear OFWs and their families because you have a new regional office building where you can do your OWWA transactions. This is a big help in our effort to serve you better, our modern-day heroes,” said Bello, who also serves as chairperson of the OWWA Board of Trustees.
The three-story building is conveniently located at the Diosdado Macapagal Government Center, a central government hub in Barangay Maimpis, San Fernando City.
It is also near Clark International Airport, which additionally serves as an arrival and departure hub for overseas Filipinos.
Measuring 500 square meters per floor, OWWA Regional Welfare Office 3 is also an ‘energy-efficient’ and ‘gender-sensitive’ structure.
It is the first building in the government center that was installed with solar panels, said OWWA Regional Welfare Office 3 Director Falconi Millar.
He likewise shared that each floor was provided with a gender-neutral comfort room for the members of the LGBTQ community.
OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac thanked Secretary Bello for his full support to the Administration and for prioritizing the welfare of OFWs. He likewise acknowledged the assistance of Pampanga Governor Dennis Pineda in facilitating government permits which enabled the construction to be finished ahead of schedule.
To cap the ceremony, Bello led the distribution of educational assistance worth P10,000 each to 35 Project EASE scholars.
Through the project, OWWA offers educational assistance amounting to P10,000 per annum, for a maximum of four years, to a qualified college-level dependent of an active OWWA member who was repatriated amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (DOLE) -rir
