Over 22,400 clients were already served by the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) One-Stop Processing Center (OSPC) inside the Freeport Zone four months since it commenced operations.
“The existence of the OFW OPSC at Clark Polytechnic was able to cut down the process cycle time for most of our (and our partners) services, making it convenient for our OFW-clients traversing through the Clark International Airport and other clients residing from nearby areas,” Department of Labor and Employment Regional Director Ana Dione said in a statement.
Records show that from September 12, 2016 to January 31, 2017; the combined efforts of DOLE attached agencies namely the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) served 4,716 clients.
From the figure, 2,328 availed POEA’s Documentation of Workers-on-Leave otherwise known as Balik Manggagawa Program.
Moreover, 1,087 have either registered or renewed their OWWA membership while 906 clients were able to avail of TESDA’s Training Assistance and Scholarship Program and were provided assistance on PDOS and CGP Registration.
About 395 clients, on the other hand, were able to have their professional licenses issued or renewed by the PRC within an hour.
Aside from DOLE attached agencies, partner agencies also housed at the OSPC have contributed in fast-tracking their respective services benefiting around 17,730 clients during the same period.
Philippine Health Insurance Corporation processed membership registration of 6,671 clients while Home Mutual Development Fund processed the membership and screening of loyalty cards of 6,002 clients.
Also, the National Bureau of Investigation issued clearance certificates to 3,095 clients.
Social Security System, for its part, assisted 1,036 clients on registration/membership data amendment, acceptance of benefit/loan claim applications, and contribution/loan status verification.
And lastly, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, Maritime Industry Authority, Commission on Higher Education, and Bureau of Immigration provided their respective services to 856 clients.
“We are very thankful for the very positive feedback we’ve received so far. This will boost the morale of every personnel, respective of their agencies, manning our OFW OPSC,” Dione added.
“But we also recognize that we have areas of concerns that need to be addressed as we cannot entirely please everybody. We do apologize for any inconvenience our clients may have experienced. The people who man this Center are also human and could sometimes fall short, but rest assured, we are always working on improving the way we do things to serve our clients better,” Dione furthered.
OFW OPSC is open from Mondays to Fridays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
It is the second such facility to be established in the country pursuant to the directives of President Rodrigo Duterte.