MANILA, July 16 — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said they have yet to issue overseas Filipino worker (OFW) ID cards.
“Hindi pa po nagbibigay ng OFW ID sa ngayon,” the agency said in an announcement posted on its website.
It noted that they will be issuing guidelines on the matter before they will issue the ID for Filipinos working abroad.
“Hindi pa po tapos ang guidelines tungkol dito,” the POEA added.
With this, the department reminded returning OFWs that they apply for exemption or appointment for the overseas employment certificate.
Likewise, the POEA urged the public to wait for further announcement regarding to the process on how to claim the ID.
“Hintayin po ang mga sumusunod na announcement para sa tamang proseso ng pagkuha ng ID ng mga OFW,” it added.
The OFW ID also known as the iDOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) ID, which was described by Secretary Silvestre Bello III as the ‘best gift’ that President Duterte is giving to millions of OFWs for easy transactions with government and private agencies concerning their overseas employment.
The unique IDs, which is equipped with a QR code for its security features will be printed by the APO Printing Unit, a highly-sensitive security printing services, the entity which also prints Philippine passports.
The iDOLE system is aimed to interlink the databases of DOLE offices and agencies’ with other government agencies for a more reliable, updated and complete Labor Market Information System (LMIS) for employment facilitation purposes. (Ferdinand G. Patinio/PNA)