• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Overseas Filipino workers from Bacolod City, who are considered in distress, are eligible to receive not less than P10,000 in financial assistance from the local government.
This as the Sangguniang Panlungsod approved on third and final reading the Financial Assistance to Bacolodnon OFWs in Distress ordinance, authored by Councilor Israel Salanga, who is the chairperson of the SP Committee on Labor Management Relations and Overseas Workers.
Salanga said that covered in the ordinance are OFWs, who have been repatriated or went home to the Philippines due to non-payment/underpayment of wages, abuse by his or her employer, unsafe work conditions, medical emergencies, employer insolvency, closure of their workplace, war, natural disasters, and similar circumstances.
“It is but fitting that our ‘modern-day heroes’ from Bacolod be given financial assistance in times of distress, as they have sacrificed not only for themselves but also for the welfare of their families,” he stressed.
The financial assistance, subject to the assessment and approval of the city mayor, is also in recognition of the contribution of OFWs to the economy through their remittances, the ordinance, co-authored by councilors Em Ang, Celia Matea Flor, Psyche Marie Sy, Caesar Distrito, and Al Victor Espino, stressed.
An allocation of not less than P1 million each year shall be earmarked to implement the ordinance. | CGC
