The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has reinforced its commitment to expanding employment opportunities and enhancing protections for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as more countries express interest in hiring skilled Filipino workers.

During a media briefing at the DMW office in Makati City on Thursday, DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the Philippines had a successful engagement with 40 other ministers from various countries during the Global Labor Market Conference held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Jan. 29-30.

“We had a flurry of bilateral negotiations, proud to say, with 10 host countries or countries hosting OFWs in this Global Labor Market Conference in Riyadh,” he said.

DMW Undersecretary for Policy and International Cooperation Patricia Yvonne Cunanan said the Philippine delegation, led by Cacdac, conducted a fruitful discussion with representatives from Saudi Arabia, Finland, the Bahamas, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Libya.

She said participants discussed the rising demand for skilled Filipino workers across various sectors, particularly in healthcare, hospitality, and construction.

Cunanan said many countries have expressed interest in learning from the Philippines’ overseas employment framework, with some exploring the possibility of establishing their own department for migrant workers.

She said participants also need continuous upskilling programs to equip Filipino workers with globally competitive skills.

The DMW’s goal is to make the Philippines a major player in the global care economy, with particular attention to the caregiving sector, she said.

Strengthening OFW protection

At the labor forum, Cacdac said the Philippines discussed with Saudi Arabia ways on how to further strengthen monitoring mechanisms for OFWs, particularly domestic workers.

He said the DMW and the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development agreed on the importance of shifting from a reactive, complaint-driven system to a proactive monitoring framework.

“Na-bring up natin sa kanila yung sinabi ni Secretary sa atin na palakasin yung monitoring ng ating mga workers at napag-usapan na dapat ang focus natin ngayon ay magkaroon ng (We brought up to them what the Secretary told us, to strengthen the monitoring of our workers and discussed that our focus now should be to have) joint efforts on a proactive monitoring framework,” Cunanan said.

Caunan said Saudi Arabia presented its digital worker monitoring system, which the Philippines aims to integrate into a broader collaborative approach to enhance worker protection through better coordination.

She said this would include timely information sharing of employers with a history of abuse towards their domestic workers.

Caunan said the Philippines would discuss the issue of the joint monitoring framework for Filipino domestic workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the next few weeks.

“Ayaw natin maging complaint-driven yung ating monitoring gusto natin preventive siya para we can be there for our workers talaga pag nagkaroon sila na pangangailangan (We don’t want our monitoring to be complaint-driven, we want it to be preventive so we can be there for our workers once they need us), yes, that’s right, their monitoring platform, we’re taking advantage of that,” she added.

Cacdac also said the DMW is looking at the “know your employer approach”, to which, Saudi Arabia has already agreed.

He said the DMW plans to implement this approach in all countries where the Philippines deploys domestic workers.

The reclassification of Filipino domestic workers who primarily perform caregiving duties was also tackled, he said.

Cacdac said the proposal is to categorize these workers specifically as caregivers rather than domestic workers, ensuring they receive appropriate training and employment conditions.

He said Saudi officials supported this change, which the DMW also plans to introduce in other host countries.

Cunanan confirmed that negotiations are underway to update and strengthen existing labor agreements, including the 2013 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Saudi Arabia. (PNA)