Close to 1,300 OFWs benefited from reintegration program –OWWA

A total of 1,257 OFW members of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) had received over P800 million in financial aid since the establishment of the agency’s Reintegration Program in 2011.

Designed to give returning workers enough funds to establish businesses, the program approved loans amounting to P865,118,529.80 from June 2011 to December 2014, according to OWWA.

In a statement Wednesday, OWWA said majority of these projects came from Region 3, 4-A, 6, and 12, with 59 percent of them comprised of non-agricultural enterprises.

It said many of the beneficiaries invested their loans in groceries, real estate, water-refilling stations, and franchising stores, while popular agricultural endeavors include grains, fruits, and vegetable farming and livestock- and poultry-raising.

Filipinos, especially those working in conflict areas, are actively encouraged to avail of the reintegration package upon their return to the country.

In 2014, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz ordered OWWA to extend the Balik-Pilipinas Balik Hanapbuhay Program to all OFW’s from Libya and Iraq regardless of their membership status.

She said the plan, which has a P2 billion budget, was crucial for migrant workers forced to abandon their overseas jobs due to armed conflict. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

More from: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/446673/pinoyabroad/news/close-to-1-300-ofws-benefited-from-reintegration-program-owwa