SUCCESSFULLY building a business after working abroad, Alberto Limbo Perez still couldn’t be pinned down in his own country. Luckily for him, a recently-built government center can give him that chance.

“Who would reject the opportunity of working abroad?” the 47-year-old Perez said in Tagalog. “Earnings from abroad are a big help to meet our needs. It’s a waste to let the opportunity pass.”

This comes from a man whose seven-year-old work abroad is being poured on a house with swimming pool at a cost of P4 million, almost half of what the Philippine government spent on a building to mold Filipinos like him to either stay home for good or go back to migrant work.

The building in Intramuros, Manila, was funded by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) with a P7-million purse according to Labor Attache to Japan Reydeluz Conferido.

Conferido said the National Reintegration Center for Overseas Filipino Workers would allow temporary migrant Filipino workers with plans to return permanently here to adjust first by allowing them go back to overseas work. According to Conferido, the Center could help these Filipino workers find jobs anywhere in the world while preparing for that time he or she could eventually return.

“The past program was intended for OFWs who have decided to stay here for good,” the country’s labor attaché to Japan said during the launch of the center early March.

It’s this past program, begun at the start of the new millennium and formally launched three years ago, that the new project builds on, Conferido added.

“The personal reintegration has been further enriched to zero in on the abilities of the OFWs and help them match the environment in the Philippines a lot better, taking advantage of their particular expertise and skills and match them to existing opportunities in the Philippines,” Conferido said.

“If the OFW is not ready yet to return to the Philippine for good, the same personal reintegration program is going to help them still look for appropriate opportunities abroad,” he added.

Limbo

THE new structure, according to documents, plans to combine under one roof the personal, community and economic reintegration programs handled separately before by four government agencies. The Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA), which charges each Filipino leaving for work abroad US$25, attempted the personal reintegration, according to Conferido.

Its parent agency, the Department of Labor and Employment, handled the economic reintegration by encouraging OFWs to borrow money during the 2004 presidential elections. OWWA’s sister agency Philippine Overseas Employment Administration —which facilitates the outflow of workers— is now included in the new program. Another agency, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, forms the fourth leg of this new attempt to attract Filipino workers to return to the Philippines.

These are Filipinos like Miguel Bolos who bought a spa using money he earned working in Saudi Arabia as an assistant comptroller for a quarter-century. Bolos welcomed the construction of the center, saying its program is promising for returning overseas workers planning to venture into business.

“For one, it could give returning overseas Filipinos some kind of an idea rather than starting from scratch on their own,” Bolos said. “It could save them time by coming here and right away, get some kind of an idea. It may not be a very firm idea, but [the Center could offer] something to start on.”

Bolos invested in a spa, now employing three men and 18 women, without the formal assistance of the government agencies involved in the Center. On the other hand, Perez, a garments-trader and present during the building’s formal opening, doesn’t mind the Center’s “redeployment” feature. The 47-year-old businessman said he’s willing to work overseas again, if a job opportunity comes his way.