DOLE scraps OEC, replaces it with OFW ID

By the end of July, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will no longer need to secure an Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) before their deployment, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

Instead, Filipino migrant workers will be given an OFW ID for free, Bello said in an interview by Presidential Communications Office Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson, a video of which was posted on her Facebook page on Monday.

"By the end of this month, mai-implement na yung programa ng DOLE na I-DOLE, identification card ng DOLE o ng Department of Labor and Employment," Bello said.
"Pag meron na kayo n'un, 'yun na ang substitute ng OEC. Hindi niyo na kailangan mag-apply pa ng OEC."

An OEC is a requirement for OFWs departing from the Philippines to their employment destination, although many OFWs say it is a useless document that serves no other purpose but to generate revenues for the government.

Bello said OFW IDs can be claimed from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

"Lahat ng mga OFW bibigyan namin sila ng ID. Libre 'yan, walang cost to the Filipino migrant workers," he said.

Bello said the I-DOLE program will be formally launched by mid-July. —KBK, GMA News