POEA wants status and condition of OFWs abroad ASAP

POEA wants status and condition of OFWs abroad ASAP | Juan Manila

MANILA – The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) directs all recruitment and licensed manning agencies to submit monitoring reports in its system until 31 March. The Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Welfare Monitoring System (OWMS) is already in use for monitoring and reporting to the administration the status and condition of all deployed OFWs onsite and seafarers onboard.

Administrator Bernard Olalia orders recruitment and manning agencies to furnish copy of reports on the status and condition of deployed OFWs who are either onsite or onboard in his recent advisory.

“In view of the foregoing, all PRAs (Philippine recruitment agencies) and LMAs (licensed manning agencies) are hereby advised to create and/or update not later than 31 March 2021, the welfare records in the OWMS of all deployed OFWs and seafarers who are still onsite or abroad,” the POEA says.

The OWMS is the standard tool for use by the PRAs and LMAs in submitting reports on OFW status and conditions, as indicated on POEA Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 9, Series of 2019.

The directive requires that an initial report on the status and conditions of newly deployed OFWS onsite and seafarers onboard shall be completed within three months after deployment. Updates of their status and condition should be submitted every quarter thereafter.

Meanwhile, significant and critical incidents involving deployed Filipino workers should be reported to the POEA within five days from the occurrence thereof.

Monitoring the status and condition of deployed Filipino workers complies with the Revised POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Land-based Overseas Filipino Workers of 2016, the 2016 Revised POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Seafarers, and MC No. 12 Series of 2018.

The agency warns of non-compliance as it will prompt application of appropriate penalties.

“Failure to submit the required reports shall warrant the imposition by the Administration of such sanctions as it may deem appropriate,” it said. (JSM/JuanManila)

Returning OFW tests positive in Cebu

Returning OFW tests positive in Cebu | Covid-19 | Juan Manila

 

CEBU CITY — Another returning overseas Filipino worker (OFW) has tested positive for Covid-19 despite having been vaccinated in Canada, according to a radio report in Cebu.

Citing Dr. Mary Jean Loreche of Department of Health in Central Visayas, the report said the patient who tested Covid-19 positive is a female, aged 25 years, who arrived from Montreal, Canada.

Loreche said the patient received the vaccine developed by Pfizer on January 13 and arrived in Cebu on February 9, where she underwent the subscribed quarantine protocols and then swabbed on 14 February.

However, instead of registering negative, the woman was found to be positive of the virus.

This is the second case of an OFW testing positive for Covid-19 despite getting inoculated abroad, the first one being an OFW from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who returned home last 25 January.

Loreche had earlier said it remains to be proven if the Covid-19 vaccines developed by several international pharmaceutical firms can actually prevent transmission or infection.

“Sa mga datos ng mga bakuna natin . . . it can prevent severe disease, it can prevent clinical disease. Pero to prevent transmission, hindi po clear cut ‘yan kaya hindi po natin masasabi na ikaw, kung nabakunahan ka, hindi ka na makakahawa,” she said.

Meanwhile, a ranking health official who requested anonymity said in an earlier report that vaccines against the virus are not guaranteed to shield anyone from getting the disease but it can ensure the said individual will not have severe symptoms, unlike people who did not receive any jab at all. (JSM/JuanManila)