OEC Processing - Go online, don’t fall in line

The POEA advised Balik-Manggagawa or vacationing Overseas Filipino Workers to use its online system to get an Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) or exit clearance instead of lining up at the POEA office and its processing centers. 

OFWs may lose right to vote

A petition from change.org posted word for word, let's push this petition!

"We see them at the airport every hour, every day. Men and women saying goodbye to weeping families.Each of the 100 million Filipinos has kin or friends who work and live abroad. Many of them work under harsh conditions. We call our Overseas Filipinos Bagong Bayani (New Heroes). They not only support entire clans; they prop up the national economy.

OFWs fought hard for 16 years to exercise their basic right to vote. In 2003, the Overseas Absentee Voting Act was passed in 2003. Data shows that 2.5 percent of the 10 to 12 million Filipinos abroad have since then voted in elections.

These gains are now in peril, warns a petition on Change.org that seeks the return of P89.6-million budget needed in 2015 for the proper implementation of overseas voting.

8 agencies prevented from OFW recruitment

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration issued preventive suspension orders against eight recruitment agencies found to have provided fraudulent documents to their recruited workers who were eventually barred by the Bureau of Immigration from leaving the country.

DFA Obtains European Reprieve for Filipino Seafarers

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed that the European Commission Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DGMOVE) acted favorably on the DFA’s request for additional time to allow the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) of the Philippines to implement structural and policy changes to meet regulatory standards set by the 1978 International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, as amended (STCW Convention). 

PHL to extend visa-free privilege from 21 to 30 days

Beginning August 1, 2013, nationals from 151 countries with visa-free privilege can stay in the Philippines for up to 30 days from the previous period of 21 days.