The 48 WSFM delegates with Gov. Pineda and other provincial officials at the Pampanga capitol on Wednesday. Photo by Ric Gonzales
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Delegates to 5th World Social Forum on Migration hailed Pampanga’s efforts at caring for its overseas workers and their families during a call at the Capitol here Wednesday.
“We are here to recognize the best practices of the province (on OFWs concerns),” said Edmund Rugu of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, coordinator for the delegates hailing from 17 countries.
He was specifically referring to the Provincial Action Center for OFW Concerns initiated by Gov. Lilia G. Pineda upon her assumption to office in 2010.
Some 2,620 Kapampangan OFWs have been provided by PACOC legal and financial assistance, aided in their repatriation, as well as in bringing home the bodies of those who died abroad. Families of OFWs are also given livelihood trainings and relief assistance.
Pineda and PACOC unit head Eliza Muñoz welcomed and hosted a luncheon for the 48 WSFM delegates from 17 countries led by Juvencia Rocha Peralta of Mexico.
In his presentation before the delegates and provincial officials at the Capitol’s Benigno Hall, Rugu said the first-class province has the third highest number of OFWs numbering some 115,795 with a reported annual remittance of P16 billion.
Only Manila (231,000) and Quezon City (209,000) have more OFWs compared to Pampanga, which has a population of close to 2 million.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the OFWs remitted $2.043 billion in the first quarter of 2012, a 5.7 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
The latest estimated number of OFWs is 2.2 million and they are expected to increase their remittances in the last quarter of 2012 due to the Yuletide season.
Pineda, in her speech, vowed “to reassure and pledge our unstinting support to the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People in their noble mission to promote the social well-being of Filipino migrants and itinerants.”
“When I took the helm of the government in the province, one of my primary concerns was to look after the investment and welfare of migrants and itinerants, whether Kapampangan or not.
To that end, I created by way of an executive order the PACOC, tasked to address and resolved issues and concerns of overseas Filipino workers,” she said.
“We have to take care of the OFWs as they really help the economy sending billions to the province.
I am amazed by the volume of remittances,” Pineda said. The 62-year-old governor was earlier cited by the Department of Labor and Employment for being instrumental in stopping illegal recruiters and was awarded for helping generate at least 15,000 jobs in two years through the Provincial Employment Service Office.
Muñoz disclosed that the latest Kapampangan OFW the PACOC is assisting is 32-year-old Joselito Zapanta of Bacolor town who is on death row in Saudia Arabia for allegedly killing his landlord in 2008.
Pineda and the 21-member Pampanga Mayors’ League (PML) started to help raise the P44-million blood money demanded by the family of the victim even as Zapanta has been given an extension of four months to raise the amount.
“We are encouraging OFWs and their families in Pampanga to immediately visit PACOC anytime for any form of assistance as the governor has specific orders to us to help the heroes of our nation,” said Muñoz.
Rugu said the visitors are part of the more than 800 attendees at the four-day WSFM forum at the Miriam College in Quezon City. The forum attended by delegates from some 30 countries will end on November 30.
The total delegates were divided into four groups, three of which visited also on November 28 Bulacan, Batangas and Manila.
Marg Liddell, a delegate from Melbourne, Australia said “we hope we gained more knowledge” in the visit to Pampanga to help improve the welfare of migrant workers in the world. She is the leader of 30 students from Australia who are included in the forum.
Pineda and Board Members Trina Dizon and Olga Frances David-Dizon, Mabalacat Councilor Cherry Manalo and Provincial Administrator Andres Pangilinan Jr. welcomed the delegates, who also visited the San Guillermo Church in nearby Bacolor town.
