LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Pangasinan’s Migration and Development Council (MDC) has asked, through a resolution, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to establish a satellite office in the province to cater to the overseas employment services needs of Pangasinenses.
MDC-Pangasinan chairperson Alex Ferrer, in an interview Wednesday, said they initiated the request since a substantial number of Pangasinenses, especially those from western Pangasinan, had to travel three to four hours to get to the nearest POEA office in San Fernando City, La Union or Clark, Pampanga.
Ferrer is also the Provincial Employment and Services Officer of the province.
“Since the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has its consular office in a mall in Calasiao town, where there is also the one-stop shop of national government agencies, such as Social Security System, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund), among others, hence, we thought, why not the POEA satellite office also?” he explained.
Ferrer noted that Pangasinenses would save time, money and effort with a POEA satellite office in the province.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan members passed Provincial Resolution No. 1738-2018 entitled, “Requesting the POEA to set up a satellite office in the province near the DFA satellite office at Robinsons Place in Calasiao Pangasinan” on Monday.
Ferrer said he will personally submit the resolution and the endorsement letter from Governor Amado Espino III to the POEA Center for Luzon in San Fernando City, La Union.
“We are optimistic that the response of POEA to this request will be favorable to us for our province mates,” he added. (Hilda Austria/PNA)
