Newly appointed officer-in-charge of the Department of Migrant Workers, Hans Leo J. Cacdac, on Saturday said he will continue the programs that the late secretary Susan "Toots" Ople spearheaded in their department, and make sure that her vision for the DMW would be achieved.

"Malaking gap… big shoes to fill ang kanyang iniwan," Cacdac said in a radio interview.

"She (Ople) set the direction that we will stand by and strengthen," Cacdac added.

Cacdac was the department's undersecretary for welfare and foreign employment before he was appointed DMW OIC.

He also served as administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administrator (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

Cacdac said the first task at hand is to defend the DMW's proposed P15-billion budget at the Senate next week.

He also plans to strengthen the P1.2-billion action fund for legal assistance to OFWs.

"One of her (Ople) last public statements was that OFWs whose rights are violated will now be able to file cases and get justice," Cacdac said.

Secretary Susan "Toots" Ople who died on 22 August 2023 also wanted a cancer fund established for migrant workers and for the digitalization within the agency to continue.

In July, the DMW launched an app for OFW meant to streamline the processing of labor and overseas documents.

Cacdac said the Saudi government has already formed a technical committee that would implement Saudi King Salman's orders regarding OFWs with unpaid wages.

The DMW has said that at least 10,000 OFWs who had worked for nine Saudi companies that declared bankruptcy following the economic crisis in 2015 would receive "full payment" of their pending wages.

So far, Cacdac said, the Saudi government has assured them there is funding and resources for the payout.

He added, though, that processing is still ongoing and that the Saudi government has not given a definite timeline on when the money will be released.

"There is a challenge in determining who the claimants are and how the distribution will be done in coordination with the Philippine side," he said.

"Ople said last November that the Saudi government would "set aside two billion Riyals (or) about more than P30.2 billion to help our displaced workers," Cacdac recalled.

The funds will cover workers from Saudi OGer, MMG, the Bin Laden group, and other construction companies that declared bankruptcy in 2015 and in 2016, she said then.

Ople, Cacdac said, wanted the DMW to feel like the home of overseas Filipino workers.