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- EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — SciTech and Digital News
PASIG CITY (SDN) — If you have been living under a rock, know that there’s a Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO).
Unknown to majority of the over 119 million Filipinos, many of them with family members living abroad, either as residents or workers, the CFO has been a reliable ally of these away-Filipinos.
The CFO’s relative anonymity in spite of its being created and around in 1980 already, is what current chair, Secretary Romulo “Leo” V. Arugay wants to change. He wants every Filipino to be aware of the agency.
He wants his countrymen to know and learn about the mandate and functions of the CFO, which is vital to the welfare of more than 10 million far-away fellow Filipinos.
At the “Kapihan sa Metro East Media Forum” on September 18 in this urban jungle, Arugay, who once called New Zealand home, got the opportunity to drumbeat and explain the CFO to the quad media.
Established by Batas Pambansa Blg. 79 on June 16, 44 years ago, the CFO is an agency of the Philippine government and covered by the Office of the President (OP).
Under his leadership at the CFO, he said the agency registers from 200 to 500 Filipinos every day, adding just for the first half of 2024 there are already 30,000 — already 40,000 as of today — who already left for overseas as “permanent migrants”.
It is important, Arugay pointed out to have the data on overseas Filipinos so the country can keep track of them, even while mentioning that Filipinos abroad with dual citizenships are still entitled to receive the Php100,000 cash gift from the Philippine government, with the CFO arranging for them to receive it.
He explained the difference between an “immigrant” (those who live in country that’s not his or her country of origin) and “emigrant” (those who leave his or her country of origin and live someplace else).
Arugay said the CFO’s task is to promote and protect the interests, rights, and welfare of Filipinos living permanently abroad. He added that part of its task as well is to strengthen these away-Filipinos’ ties to their Motherland.
CFO joins council battling human trafficking led by DOJ
He hastened to clarify that the agency is only minding Filipinos who have immigrated to other countries, living permanently there and perhaps, may have acquired dual citizenship.
In any case, he distinguished the CFO through the key word “worker” from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), the Department of Labor (DOLE), and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), which has mandate on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Watch CFO Secretary Leo C. Arugay: https://youtu.be/JJ18KZ3qgZ0?si=Z_FYYszysRVwdNby
On the other hand, he added that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issues Filipino passports and covers and has mandate over all Filipinos who are in foreign countries. The DFA also has extensive jurisdiction, he said, such as national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and foreign relations.
Appointed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. for his accumulated knowledge and familiarity about Filipinos’ lives abroad, Arugay said the CFO serves as the bridge of the Filipino “diaspora” to assist them in tackling any problem they face in their chosen second home country.
He also explained the CFO can help Filipinos who acquired the citizenship of their new home country to re-gain their lost rights as citizens of the Philippines, for their well-being and benefits.
Part of the CFO’s initiatives on permanent Filipino migrants is letting their children born abroad to know their respective family’s roots and historical background in the Philippines and lit their interests to where their parents came from.
“It’s high time for them to connect with their family back home in the Philippines,” Arugay emphasizes.
With the digital revolution, Arugay said Filipinos leaving the country as emigrant no longer has to go to the CFO to register and fulfill the required pre-departure orientation seminar (PDOS), which the DMW also gives to departing OFWs for employment. They can do it through the CFO’s Online PDOS, he pointed out.
“Total digitalization or digitization or the paperless transaction is the best and effective program of President Marcos, Jr. because ‘fixers’ are now a thing of the past,” he claims.
In the past, those immigrating were required to visit the CFO to register, get their PDOS, and have their passport attached with the agency’s stamp like a visa (like this journalist did in 2008).
Arugay recalled the CFO’s existence owes it to then President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr., who visited the United States, in Hawaii in particular, in 1970s. He saw there were many Filipinos on the island of Hawaii (many of them were Ilocanos like him) working on plantations.
Having that in mind, apparently thinking his countrymen needed to be taken care off by the government officially, Marcos, Sr. established the CFO in 1980.
Arugay noted that there are 10.2 million Filipino migrants in 200 countries, of which 47 percent are permanent residents of their respective host country; 42 percent temporary migrants (OFWs); the others being the “irregular migrants” (the ones called TNT or tago ng tago, meaning always hiding from authorities) who have no legal status.
Arugay credited the millions of Filipinos abroad, who regularly send remittances to their families back home and help keep the Philippines afloat and resilient even during the over two years Covid-19 pandemic. The global scourge started in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019.
On the other hand, he wanted his countrymen to know one of the CFO’s priority programs is fighting the scourge of human trafficking as it has joined other government agencies in the campaign against human traffickers. It does this through community education programs, as the CFO visits various communities across the country to provide information and lay down the evils of trafficking with humans. It has the “1343 Hotline” which everyone may call to report suspected human traffickers, or their victims.
To implement its battle, the CFO has allied with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), which has mandate to coordinate and monitor the implementation of Republic Act No. 9208, also known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. IACAT is under the Department of Justice (DOJ) as lead agency.
He mentioned at the “Kapihan, organized by the PaMaMariSan-Rizal Press Corps in collaboration with Pinoy Ako Advocacy Group, that Marcos, Jr. has been enunciating in his every State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) the fight against trafficking in persons.
Among the CFO’s initiatives to re-connect migrant Filipinos include holding a series of “Ugnayan” (Connection) activities with them in the countries where they live.
CFO warns about ‘fake, fraudulent’ PDOs papers, ‘fixers, ‘scammers’ on Facebook
Another is a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) so those overseas may register and vote in Philippine elections and still exercise their right of suffrage.
Still another is the CFO being the Secretariat for Philippine Schools Overseas (PSO) to monitor the schools, visit their students and help them in the challenges they face, as well as advise the students on preventing “cultural shock” and be “acclimatized” as quick as possible and make adjustment only minor aspect of their life abroad as students.
Arugay said the 31 PSOs located in the Middle East (majority are located), Italy, Cambodia, and other countries have 27,000 students.
In relation with the welfare of Filipinos abroad, especially the TNT, the CFO, DMW and DFA have linked for a “One-Team Approach” to provide the illegal Filipinos assistance to regularize their status.
The CFO chair also discussed “brain drain”, which he pointed out has both positive and negative aspects. It’s Filipinos’ choice for their own good, he noted, and there’s nothing that can be done about it.
“We have the freedom to travel. By nature, Filipinos have a ‘diaspora instinct,'” while saying if no one goes abroad it would be better.
At present, he said the CFO budget is at Php300 million, but he wants this increased as the agency it has 130 personnel with offices in the cities of Davao and Cebu. It has plans to put up some more extension offices in Baguio City to serve Regions I, II and III, and other regions where there are families with relatives abroad, like in Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao for Mindanao’s strong migrant trend, and also looking at Mabini, Batangas, Tuguegarao City, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
“I hope that with the help of President Marcos, we will be able to expand to other areas of the country,” Arugay says.
“Our government, through President Marcos, Jr. is focused, especially to those distressed (Filipinos abroad), as sends a message. “Rest assured the CFO will address your concerns. I will expand, add extension offices in high migration trend areas.
“We are moving forward, not backward. The government is moving closer to you, for the Bagong Pilipino through the Bagong Pilipinas,” the CFO assures.
In the CFO’s Secretary’s Corner, he says the agency provides “pre-departure services to our Filipino emigrants, marriage migrants, US Exhange Visitor Program participants, and au pairs (18-30 young adults who who travels to a foreign country to live with a host family, Wikipedia).
The CFO, also on its website (www.cfo.gov.ph) warns clients, saying submitting “fake or fraudulent” registration documents is illegal and subject to prosecution. It also warns clients not to deal or transact with “fixers” and “scammers” on Facebook posing as CFO staff. (/)