CEBU CITY, Nov. 30 (PNA) — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 7 has given 80 former overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Central Visayas training in livelihood skills and financial literacy.
DOLE 7, through the National Reintegration Center for Overseas Filipino Workers, conducted a two-day training, which started Saturday, with the aim to help the former OFWs alleviate their lives through entrepreneurship.
Fifty-two of the participants are from Cebu, seven from Bohol and four from Negros Oriental. They were referred by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO).
Of the 80 former OFWs, 63 were reportedly abused by their former employers while working abroad while the remaining 17 were undocumented workers.
Labor and Employment Officer III Dexter Paro said the 63 participants will be given cooking starting kits worth Php7,500 while the 17 others will be handed over Php10,000 financial assistance.
A 26-year-old female participant from Barangay Pasil, Cebu City shared that she had worked in Malaysia for three years before she found out that she was actually undocumented.
She said her employer assured her that her stay was legal, but curiosity prompted her to go to the embassy and eventfully found out that she had been undocumented.
She said the embassy arranged for her return to the country.
A 41-year-old domestic helper in Kuwait, on the other hand, said she had experienced being abused by her employer during her one-year stay, like receiving delayed salary and being deprived of meals until she was done with the chores.
She managed to escape from her employer’s custody and sought the embassy’s help.
The DOLE-NRCO hopes that the Php700,000 budget they allocated for the participants would help them start their own businesses. (PNA)