DBM asserts new migrant workers’ agency can’t use POEA funds yet 

THE DEPARTMENT of Budget and Management (DBM) on Sunday told Migrant Workers Secretary Abdullah D. Mama-o that he has no authority to use funds under the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). 

In a statement from the Labor department, DBM Officer-in-Charge Tina Rose Marie L. Canda pointed out that the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has yet to be fully constituted.  

“Since it did not meet the clear requirements of the law, there will be no complete transfer of funds unless and until the DMW is fully constituted,” according to a letter written by Ms. Canda. 

The requirements are: a budget for the next fiscal year, an effective implementing rules and regulations, and manpower structure. 

President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed the law establishing the DMW in December last year and appointed Mr. Mama-o as head in March. 

The new department will be absorbing existing government agencies dealing with overseas Filipino workers, including the POEA, to ease procedures relating to migrant workers.   

Ms. Canda said POEA Administrator Bernard P. Olalia “shall continue to exercise authority on its operations until the full constitution of the DMW.”   

President-elect Ferdinand R. “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., who will be taking office on June 30, has named migrant workers’ advocate Susan V. Ople as the next DMW chief. — John Victor D. Ordoñez