By Brian Jules Campued

In line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s marching order to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to protect the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families, Sec. Hans Leo Cacdac reiterated his agency’s commitment in safeguarding OFWs’ rights and welfare through its various programs and services.

In an interview during the Malacañang Insider program on Wednesday, Cacdac enumerated that the DMW plans to modernize the National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP)—which was established during the Marcos Sr. administration—to train local seafarers in accordance with “world-class” standards.

“One basic and yet challenging endeavor we’re getting into is improving our facilities here and abroad. We have the National Maritime Polytechnic that was established during the Marcos Sr.’s administration in Tacloban—a project of the First Lady at that time that we wish to modernize,” Cacdac said.

The DMW also wants to transform its distressed-worker shelter facilities abroad into Migrant Workers Resource Centers, whereby Filipino communities can also socialize as well as enhance their skills through various courses.

“We wish to modernize and transform them to centers of excellence and training—and should I say, places or venues where OFWs, Filipino communities could come together and socialize and train and have different types of courses that they could have to enhance their skills, recreational perhaps facilities… also along those lines,” Cacdac said.

“Of course, we will still be mindful of distressed workers who need shelter abroad. But [the] improvement of our shelter would be another one that we are looking at,” he added.

The agency is also looking into the improvement of its legal assistance services after the legal assistance program of the Department of Foreign Affairs was transferred to the DMW last year. Part of the plan, Cacdac said, is to organize a pool of lawyers abroad with a higher standard of service.

He also noted the progress of bringing and obtaining justice for OFWs who were victims of physical injury or rape while in the hands of their employers or other people abroad.

“We are strengthening our legal assistance program by hiring more lawyers, hiring in-house and external counsel, having more paralegals, having more Sharia lawyers on the Islamic side,” he said.