MATRIX OF MIGRANTE SECTORAL PARTY POSITIONS
ON SPECIFIC HOUSE BILLS OF THE THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

House Bill Number
(2) HB 1618

Bill Title
An Act to Impose Stiffer Penalties on Government Personnel and Officials Stationed at Various Embassies and Consular Offices Abroad For Gross Negligence to on Complaints of, or to Give Assistance or Render Service Especially to Distressed Migrant Filipinos And OFWs, their Families and Dependents, Amending For the Purpose Republic Act 8042, Otherwise Known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.

Author
Rep. Roseller Barinaga

MIGRANTE position
The MIGRANTE Sectoral Party fully supports House Bill 1618 and calls on the House Special Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs to ably shepherd the immediate passage of this Bill into law.

House Bill 1618 intends to improve the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 (R.A. 8042) with regard to accountability, honesty and transparency of government officials and personnel in various diplomatic posts abroad.

Through the years, hundreds of distressed OFWs' cases are neglected by, or in some situations, worsened by Philippine government officials in posts abroad.

Among these cases are the deaths of at least three OFWs (Catherine Bautista, Louella Montenegro and Luz Pacuran) in Lebanon last year, the hundreds of stranded and abused Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait and more than 5,000 other Filipinos in jails worldwide can be addressed by this Bill if it is legislated in earnest by Congress.

To date, negligent government officials in diplomatic posts are merely recalled and then re-assigned to another country. This practice should be stopped. The legislation of HB 1618 is a step towards that direction.

Rest assured that MIGRANTE and all its networks and organizations here and abroad will support House Bill 1618.

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[HB 1281] [HB 1618] [HB737] [HB 3572] [HB 257, HB 346, HB 2367]