The Official Gazette published on 2 March 2019 Republic Act 1127: An act mandating the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to develop, publish, disseminate and update a handbook on the rights and responsibilities of migrant workers, amending for the purpose republic act no. 8042, otherwise known as the “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995”, as amended by Republic act no. 10022.
The law was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on 22 February 2019.
The Objectives of the handbook are as follows:
- To empower every overseas Filipino worker(OFW) by making them fully aware of their rights and responsibilities;
- To complement the worker education program of various agencies;
- To provide a basic information on the labor and living conditions in the country of their destination;
- To make the workers well aware of the benefits and drawbacks of working overseas; and
- To provide necessary information for their reintegration into the Philippine society.
The handbook will be written in English with translations in local languages and will be given to all land-based and sea-based worker for free.
“We want to equip our OFWs with the necessary information they can access once they are out there in the global marketplace,” according Senator Manny Pacquiao, the author of Senate Bill No. 192, or the “Handbook for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) Act.”
To download a copy of the law please follow this link: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2019/02feb/20190222-RA-11227-RRD.pdf
Source: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/