TAGBILARAN — Bohol’s third district representative Kristine Alexie Tutor has filed a bill creating a department focusing on the interests and welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

Tutor, a daughter of a former OFW, said the new department is created to ensure that the dignity of all Filipinos must never be diminished.

She filed House Bill 4814 last Wednesday seeking the creation of the Department of OFW. The filing of the bill, Tutor said, will build momentum for the creation of an agency of worldwide importance.

In her explanatory note, Tutor said: “The State is directed at all times to promote quality overseas employment over and above any numeric or financial considerations. Vulnerable workers including domestic workers overseas deserve the State’s most compassionate, prompt and effective mantle of protection. Migrant workers’ rights are human rights, thus, the exploitation of one OFW severely diminishes us all.”

“The Department for OFWs responds to this challenge, by being the lead agency that would manage, harmonize, strengthen and implement existing policies and programs to address the needs of foreign Filipino employment while recognizing the role that migrants including permanent residents abroad can play in building a strong nation,” the solon from Bohol’s third district said.

Meanwhile, the town of Candijay has declared a state of calamity due to drought brought about by El Niño.

Despite the declaration of a state of calamity, the local government unit (LGU) of Candijay led by its mayor Christopher Tutor is on top of the situation.

The LGU is busy intervening to address the current state of drought in the town.

Candijay is about two hours from Bohol’s capital of Tagbilaran City.