SEN. Bong Go urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to promote the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and be ready to serve them anytime.

“Your office must be open to our fellowmen overseas and you must be ready to serve them 24/7 (round-the-clock),” Go said in Filipino.

The senator made the appeal on Wednesday during the Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing on the nomination and ad interim appointments of 24 senior and middle-level DFA officials.

They include former DFA secretary Enrique Manalo who was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the Philippine permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. The CA confirmed their appointments.

Go said the “emotional reassurance for the families of overseas Filipino workers is just as critical as physical safety.”

“They should have peace of mind. There must be an office they can readily call,” he added. BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO, This news data comes from:http://dwd-aqa-swm-yb.gyglfs.com

Go said he filed Senate Bill 414 which will institutionalize the OFW Hospital in San Fernando City, Pampanga, a facility established during the Duterte administration in partnership with the Pampanga provincial government.

Sen. Go calls for round-the-clock DFA support for OFWs welfare

He also filed SB 1290, or the proposed “OFW Ward Act,” which mandates all Department of Health (DOH) hospitals to set up dedicated wards for OFWs and their families.