By Mary Judaline Partlow (PNA)
DUMAGUETE CITY – An official from the inter-agency committee for the celebration of the Month of Overseas Filipinos on Friday exhorted Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their families to become financially literate and spend their money wisely for a better and secure future.
The call was sounded during the Regional Forum on Migration and Consultation with Migrant Agencies and Organizations held at the Negros Oriental Convention Center here attended by more than 200 participants together with civil society organizations and government agencies.
Carmelita Nuqui, executive director of Action for Women Network and the president of the Philippines Migrants’ Rights Watch (PMRW), explained that this year’s regional consultation focuses on the improvement of the migrant workers and their families’ financial literacy.
PMRW is the chair of the inter-agency committee for the celebration of the Month of Overseas Filipinos this December, with the theme “Kaalaman sa Pera, Maginhawang Buhay ang Dala: Towards Financial Literacy for Overseas Filipinos and their Families”.
Along this line, Nuqui explained the need to educate Filipino migrant workers and their families to understand better their financial situations and learn proper spending and saving through various means, with the help of certain agencies that offer a variety of services.
According to her, many spend so much from the OFWs’ earnings and find themselves in deep debt although others manage their finances well and provide good education to their children.
“Marami din diyan mas ginagastos ang kita sa kanilang mga luho (many of them spend their money on luxury),” she pointed out.
There are many OFWs who find themselves in difficult situations and “we in the civil society, who chair the celebration, have links to OFWs and their families, may mga kwento din kaming nakukuha sa kanila (we are able to get stories about them),” she said.
And that is why she said that “while we recognize the remittances, tingnan din natin yung social cost,” Nuqui added.
Other speakers and their brief talks during the regional forum and consultation included officials from the Department of Trade and Industry (Entrepreneurship and Investment Opportunities for Overseas Filipinos), the Commission on Filipino Overseas (Peso Sense: Financial Literacy Campaign for Overseas Filipinos and their Families), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Microfinance and the Basics of Financial Literacy for Overseas Filipinos and their Families), and National Reintegration Center for OFWs-Region 7 (Guiding Overseas Filipinos to Secured Investments), among others.
Government agencies represented for consultations included the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, PhilHealth, Department of Foreign Affairs, Overseas Workers’ Welfare Association, Department of Labor and Employment, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Pag-IBIG, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Philippine Statistics Authority, among others.
The celebration, now on its 12th year, aims to recognize and pay tribute to Filipino migrant workers, Nuqui said.
The regional consultation here is the second to be held in the country, with the first one in Lingayen, Pangasinan and another upcoming similar activity in Cagayan de Oro, she noted.
Two international forums will also be held, one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Nov. 24 and the other in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates on Nov. 30.
The final activity, dubbed the National Forum on Migration and International Migrants’ Day Celebration, is set on Dec. 18 in Manila, Nuqui said.
