Wishing for POEA, Owwa to be truly ‘OFW-efficient’
I am a registered nurse working at Wollongong Hospital in Sydney, Australia. I came back to the Philippines last Dec. 14 for my annual vacation and to finish certain paperwork required by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa), both in Parañaque.
I went to these agencies last Jan. 2 to secure my overseas employment certificate. I arrived at the agency around 8 a.m. and I finished at 6 p.m. It is very disappointing that these agencies have such disregard for overseas Filipino workers like me. They can’t even speed up the process of issuing with efficiency and, for the OFWs, of acquiring with ease this certificate. And when I asked POEA employees why we had to pay such exorbitant fees, they could not provide a decent answer.
It is in my wish list that these agencies at least try to find a more efficient way to accomplish their tasks. And could POEA and Owwa please educate their employees on basic information, such as why we have to pay these fees, or at least come up with a pamphlet that will answer all our basic queries?
—MARC GABRIEL JAURIGUE,
