A simple turnover ceremony officially declared Hans Cacdac as the new chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). The turnover was attended by POEA directors and several senior Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) officials. Both DOLE chief, Baldoz and former POEA chief, Carlos Cao, Jr., were not present during the event.

Cacdac said that as the new POEA administrator, he would collaborate with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and focus on creating new bilateral agreements with other host countries to create job opportunities and ensure the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). He emphasized that the present law only permits deployment of OFWs to countries where the Philippines has existing bilateral agreements.

He said, “It is about time we increase the number of our bilateral agreements with other countries to protect the welfare of our OFWs.”

Cacdac promised to make the processing period of overseas employment certificates (OEC) faster and to strengthen the campaign against human trafficking. He also made known his intentions to support suggested measures to provide more protection for OFWs, such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) convention for household service workers.

The recruitment sector warmly welcomes the appointment of Cacdac and expressed their willingness to work closely with POEA so they can send more Filipino workers for deployment abroad.

Victor Fernandez of Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc (PASEI) said that they are hoping that with Cacdac’s appointment, the processing of overseas employment documents from POEA would be faster.

Fernandez said, “Attorney Cacdac has the clear vision and proper experience in the management of the POEA, having been a former deputy administrator and with his stint as undersecretary of the DOLE.”

Meanwhile some OFW groups are not happy with the replacement of Carlos Cao, Jr. as POEA chief. According to the head of Migrante International, Garry Martinez, so far Cao is the most sincere, open-minded and most accessible POEA chief. He noted that Cao supported their efforts to improve the lives of OFWs.

Martinez said, “He was clearly new to the job but we appreciate his sincerity and good intentions for OFWs,”

Martinez suspects that the reason for the ouster may be politics noting that under Cao’s leadership, permits of 300 recruitment agencies were cancelled.

Cacdac took his oath of office as new POEA chief in front of Baldoz weeks ago. On the other hand, Cao said that he did not receive any official letter from the DOLE and Malacañang to inform him of his removal from the post. Cao said that he has no resentment but only wish to be officially informed so he can step down with dignity.

Labor officials though insist they had officially informed Cao that he will only be serving until the end of December.