The Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) launches its online Balik-Manggagawa system, a process of securing clearances and paying fees made easy for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW).
POEA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said through the online system, OFWs returning to the same employer can now simply log on to the POEA website and proceed to fill out forms and submit their documents for processing.
Earlier, OFWs returning to work for the same employer had to bear with travelling to POEA Central Office in Mandaluyong or at the POEA regional and satellite offices.
“The balik manggagawa or the returning worker needs only to proceed to pay the fees electronically and print out the OEC (overseas employment certificate) either at the comfort of their homes or wherever they are conducting the online transaction,” Labour and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz explained.
The POEA is one of several agencies under the supervision of the Department of Labour and Employment.
“The usual long queue of OFWs at the POEA counters waiting for the processing of their overseas employment certificates will be a thing of the past,” Dimapilis-Baldoz said.
The OEC printout will contain a special bar code, this will then be presented by the returning worker to the immigration officer at the airport upon departure. As soon as the immigration officer opens the POEA database and finds the returnee’s “new record”, the OFW will be cleared for exit.
Cacdac said an estimated 500,000 Filipino workers are expected to benefit from this less-tedious, no-fuzz system.
“OFWs still have the option of not going through the appointment system at the POEA Central Office and instead secure their OECs from our Philippine Overseas Labour Offices or POEA regional and satellite offices,” Dimapilis-Baldoz clarified.
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