Panayam kay Sec. Romulo 'Leo' Arugay ng Commission on Filipinos Overseas kaugnay ng pagbubukas ng bagong opisina ng Commission sa lungsod ng Baguio
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00:00Update on their programs of the Commission on Filipino Overseas and the 2024 Baling Bayan Stakeholders Conference
00:08that we will discuss with Secretary Romulo Leo Arrugay, the Chairperson of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.
00:16Secretary Arrugay, good afternoon.
00:21Good afternoon to you too, PTV4, to Yusef Marx and to Akasek Dale.
00:28And to the new Philippines, to our beloved President Ferdinand Bombong Romualdez Marcos, Jr.,
00:35a bright day for all of us.
00:38Secretary, first of all, can you explain the mandate of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas?
00:45What are the services of the CFO and what are the differences between it and the DMW, POEA, OWA, and DFA?
00:58First of all, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas or the CFO, Commission on Filipinos Overseas,
01:05was established in 1980 through the National Law as part of the 77.
01:10Its mandate is to uphold the interests, rights, and rights of Filipino migrants, permanent migrants,
01:22and those who are leaving to live in other countries permanently.
01:26This is one of the mandates to uphold and strengthen the rights of Filipinos who have left their motherland.
01:36Its services are basically departure orientation seminars, country familiarization seminars,
01:43and guidance and counseling programs.
01:46These are the things that our President supports in the fight against human trafficking and other programs.
01:54The difference between the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and the DMW and DFA,
01:59the Commission on Filipinos Overseas clients are those Filipinos who are leaving to live permanently,
02:06to leave and live in other countries.
02:09Before they leave, they go through a sourcing process,
02:13like the programs I mentioned earlier, before they leave.
02:17If they don't go through our process, they cannot leave our country.
02:23The DMW or the Department of Migrant Workers is supporting the interests of Filipinos Overseas
02:33who are leaving to work.
02:36So the key word here is workers.
02:39If you are a worker, you are a temporary migrant because you will come back to the Philippines
02:46because you will live abroad on a temporary basis because you are workers.
02:53You will not migrate to live permanently.
02:56So basically, for our viewers not to be confused,
03:00the CFO is supporting Filipinos who are leaving to live permanently abroad.
03:06The DMW is for workers.
03:09The DFA is for everyone.
03:12It supports the interests of Filipinos overseas.
03:19Whether they are workers, irregular migrants, or permanent migrants.
03:25Sir, when did the new CFO's office in Baguio, in the city of Baguio, open?
03:32Are there any details? What services will be provided there?
03:37Do you also have satellite offices in other provinces?
03:42First of all, I already reported that there are satellite offices in Cebu City and Davao City.
03:51A few days ago, we inaugurated and opened in Baguio City, Bukawkan Road,
03:58where we were able to build through the effort of our able officers here in the CFO,
04:04we were able to help to have an office in Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines.
04:11Why? Because number one, the migration trend is very high in Region 1, Region 2, and Region 3.
04:18Baguio City, being in the heart of Northern Luzon, will cater for people from Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Abra,
04:29Benguet, and the part of Dimantanosa or the Cordilleras, Mountain Province, Tifugao, Talinga-Apayaw.
04:37I will mention them so that when we get to know our beloved people of Northern Luzon,
04:42the part of Talinga, Apayaw, Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, part of Nueva Ecija,
04:50part of Pampanga, Zambales, and Tarlac.
04:54For me, it's a big thing for the people of those places and it's cost-efficient for them to go to Baguio.
05:04Second, we can help local tourism in Baguio City.
05:09Third, doing is of doing business for our fellowmen in the north.
05:19The service is the same.
05:25What we do in Metro Manila, in the main office, can be done in Baguio City.
05:31That's good news, especially for the residents of Baguio.
05:36Sir, what are the initiatives for us to fight human trafficking?
05:44The CFO is one of the agencies that is the head or chairman of the Advocacy and Communications Committee
05:53of the IACCAT or Interagency Committee Against Trafficking.
05:59The CFO also has a national hotline, 1343, for the country to respond to complaints or complaints
06:06against human trafficking and other abuses such as child trafficking, domestic abuse, and missing persons
06:14that can respond to the 1343 hotline.
06:18The fight here is in accordance with the order of our beloved President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
06:25to fight and stop human trafficking.
06:28Now, we have things to look at because we can smell our enemies in the government
06:37who are victims of our vulnerable sectors in our society.
06:41We have learned from this and we are sure that this is what we will fight for in due time.
06:48Sir, we would like to ask for an update on the Community Education Program or CEP in Pangasinan.
06:58Can you give us some details on what the CEP is? What is the purpose of this program?
07:08The CEP is what we call the Community Education Program.
07:12Why is it an education program? Because this is where we educate our countrymen in Pangasinan.
07:21We chose this in San Carlos and Urdaneta. We have a mobile PDOS there to let them know the pros and cons of migration.
07:30Second, to awaken them and to give them the ideas or things that they need to know about migration.
07:40For example, what are the problems with migration, like human trafficking and other abuses.
07:47We let them know as early as possible, before they reach the point of when they will go abroad or migrate,
07:55they already know the pros and cons about this migration.
08:00In terms of the birds, I view about migrating in other counties.
08:04It was a very successful activity in Pangasinan where we had a meeting with the police of both LGUs of Urdaneta and San Carlos
08:15where we also let them know about the government's program with the police.
08:21They already know about it so that they can be a partner in the fight against human trafficking and other crimes related to migration.
08:30As a part of your digitization efforts, you also launched the Balikbayan program where you can reach the local governments.
08:45What is this program and can you explain to us what is the objective of this program?
08:53The Balikbayan program was coined with the word Balikbayan.
08:59We just changed the link to a one-stop-shop portal.
09:04Balikbayan is a concept in the migration system where our countrymen, especially workers, come back as modern day heroes.
09:13You will come back because you are just temporary there.
09:16What if you will not come back to the Philippines?
09:19So we formed this Balikbayan program.
09:23It's a one-stop-shop portal where we are working with LGUs and other NGOs to have an objective that our Filipinos abroad should know.
09:36Actually, OFWs can also access this.
09:39This is a portal where business opportunities and other links to the government programs can be accessed by our countrymen abroad through this portal.
09:51For example, if we are in St. Ildefonso, Bulacan, San Juan, Batangas, in the southern part of the Philippines,
10:00if you are a resident of the United States, you can access this portal.
10:06You can access this.
10:08What do I need from the LGU?
10:10I need to pay for SSS, love, PhilHealth.
10:15We will access that and they will guide that portal.
10:20That is the essence of Balikbayan.
10:22It's a diaspora engagement where you can leave, you can't come back physically.
10:28Why don't you just access that portal from where you came from?
10:33For example, in Cabanatuan City.
10:35You can access what you need there.
10:38And mind you, we already have almost 60 partners here in the Balikbayan Program of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.
10:47Next week, I expect that you will have a signing with an LGU of Antipolo.
10:54And this month, you will also hold the Balikbayan Stakeholders Conference.
11:02Can you give us the details?
11:04What will be the agreement and what will happen at the Balikbayan Stakeholders Conference?
11:12First of all, in Antipolo City, we had an initial meeting with the good mayor there, Mayor Junjuan Henares.
11:19They arranged through the councilor's authority to have an agreement between the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and the LGU of Antipolo, Antipolo City,
11:33where we will also donate a computer, it's a package deal, it's a portal.
11:39We will give them a computer and at the same time, we will have a capacity building program for those who will be in charge of having access to that portal.
11:52Second, we will have, as I mentioned earlier, the people of Antipolo will have access to the Balikbayan portal that will be lodged in that LGU.
12:04Second, we will also have a Balikbayan Stakeholders Conference this coming month to remind them.
12:13The moment we established a formal agreement with an LGU, it will not stop there. It is a continuous process.
12:24We do the follow-up, we remind them of the updates of what have to be put in the computer system.
12:32Then, there will be guest speakers, experts to explain to our partners, LGUs, in this coming Stakeholders Conference,
12:44like updating and at the same time, there will be sharing with the experience that they had during the existence of the program.
12:53We invited the mayors from the South, North, and other parts of the Philippines to give an insight or a contributory message
13:04on their experience regarding this Balikbayan program of the CF.
13:11Secretary, can you give us details about the suspended au pair contract in Germany?
13:20There was a correspondent from the DFA or Philippine Embassy in Berlin that the government of Germany, particularly in Berlin,
13:32won't any longer issue an au pair certification, authenticity of a certain certification from the DFA.
13:43Au pair participants had an issue there. They have concerns and abuses are happening.
13:49The government of Germany made an imperative move to suspend the issuance of certificate of authenticity of this agreement between the au pair program.
14:04But that is only temporary and they are still fixing what needs to be fixed. Norway was also suspended.
14:12The only existing one is Denmark and Netherlands. They are still there. This is still ongoing.
14:19Au pair is a program, it's an integration program, it's a cultural exchange between European countries and the Philippines,
14:26where our participants, young, 20 to 35 years old, they have an immersion program and familiarization in the country and stay in the host country
14:39where they share household chores and other agreements.
14:46These are not DHs, these are not workers. It's more of an immersion in the culture of Europe.
14:54This is a program where the host country has the right to say, to stop or continue the program.
15:01Again, this is also addressed by the CFO and au pair participants come here to attend the pre-departure country familiarization seminar
15:12so that when they arrive abroad or in Europe, our fellow countrymen are ready for their immersion in the places in Europe.
15:23Secretary Arugay, perhaps a message and invitation to our fellow countrymen to attend your upcoming Balint Bayan Stakeholders Conference.
15:34Thank you very much, Aseg Dale and Yoseg Marge, for this opportunity in PTB4 and especially for your program, Bago Pilipinas Ngayon.
15:44I would like to thank the Philippine Commission on Overseas and I would like to ask our fellow countrymen to support the Philippine Commission on Overseas,
15:57especially our Filipinos who are living abroad.
16:01I would like to ask the administration, especially our beloved President Ferdinand Bobong Marcos Jr. to support the fight and stop and open human trafficking.
16:13For the well-being of our future Filipinos, to the new Filipinos and new Filipinas, may we all live happily.
16:22Thank you very much for your time.
16:25Secretary Romulo Leo Arugay, the Chairperson of the Philippine Commission on Overseas.