UAE: Philippine export passes to go digital, no more queues

Earlier this year, Filipinos in Dubai complained of snakes queuing for hours outside the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) in Dubai during the hot summer months to get a mandatory travel pass, or OEC. The OEC is the document that certifies the regularity of OFW’s recruitment and documentation and that he/she is registered with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (now DMW).

The OEC is presented to immigration officials at the Philippine departure airport. OFWs holding OEC can enjoy travel tax exemption, airport terminal fee waiver and travel tax relief for spouse or dependents. However, immigration officials may prevent immigration officials from leaving the Philippines without OEC.

Many Filipinos have called for the complete abolition of the OEC, including Barney Almazar, a financial expert and director of the Gulf Legal Corporate Commerce Department, who said the export pass is a “constitutional restriction on the right to travel.”

Additionally, Filipino video blogger and social media influencer Ion Gonzaga told Gulf News earlier: “The OEC has proposed [people with] More setbacks than benefits…Travel tax in the Philippines is around Dh115 and we actually pay more for OEC and contract validation at Dh92 and Dh40 respectively and you have to take your time Go to POLO-Dubai with money – it’s very inconvenient. “

During a town hall meeting with Filipino diaspora community leaders and journalists, there was no discussion of repealing the OEC, but Ople and other DMW officials agreed on the urgent need to digitize the DMW’s services to “relieve the burden on OFW.”

In addition to the digitization of the OEC, Ople said other reforms DMW is implementing are reducing the time to process OFW deployments from three months to 10-15 days. “The process is too long and too costly, we will reduce it,” she noted.

Ople added that the DMW, created under Republic Act No. 11641 or the Act to create the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) signed by former President Rodrigo Duterte last December, will have its own budget or “action fund” next year, will be used for humanitarian aid.

She also mentioned the OFW Hospital in Mabalacat, Pampanga, north of Manila, which is now operational to serve OFWs and their families. “We plan to have OFW wards in other hospitals in the Philippines,” Ople added.

Paperless is also one of the focuses of the new DMW. DMW Deputy Minister Maria Antonette Velasco-Allones spoke about the digital transformation of processes and services. She also invited OFWs to volunteer for alpha and beta testing of the digital OEC by the end of September. “We hope everything goes well when we roll [digital OEC] until October 15,” she added.

DMW is also digitizing employment contract verification and employer certification and registration. Other digital services include Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) updates and Balik manggagawa processing. DMW also plans to have an SOS button to make it easy to report Filipinos overseas in distress.

DMW Assistant Secretary Felicitas Bay, formerly the Philippine Labour Commissioner in Dubai and now head of the One Repatriation Command Centre, pledged to respond promptly to OFWs in distress, “regardless of their legal status — which means whether they are a documented worker or not “.

“We will facilitate, monitor and document the repatriation of distressed OFWs in a timely and responsive manner,” she added.

Philippine Consul General Renato Dueñas Jr. also attended the town hall meeting; current Philippine Labor Commissioner John Rio Aceveda Bautista and other officials from the Philippine delegation and DMW-Dubai.