Previous Story
OWWA renews 1,600 members
About 1,600 Filipino workers on Saipan have renewed their membership with the Philippine government’s Overseas Workers Welfare Administration—more than a year since the agency last held a renewal drive in the CNMI.
According to OWWA representative Julia Fabian yesterday, they were targeting to have as many as 2,000 renewals but the total as of yesterday morning was about 1,600.
She expects the number to still go up, however, as she will be leaving for Rota tomorrow, and then later in the next few days to Tinian to hold similar renewal drives there.
Fabian joined the Philippine Consulate General from Guam in their mobile services at the Marianas Business Plaza, which started Friday last week and ended yesterday.
Team leader and Philippine consul Edgar Tomas Auxilian said the consulate general works closely with OWAA, under the Department of Labor and Employment, in helping meet the needs of Filipino nationals in the CNMI.
He said it is difficult for some to renew their OWWA membership through their family in the Philippines.
The last time OWWA was on Saipan for a consular mission was in October 2013, he said.
OWWA membership provides welfare services and life insurance for Filipino nationals abroad. It helps with repatriation, provides assistance for hospital services in the Philippines, and education assistance for children whose parents have died.
Meanwhile, Auxilian said they have registered 270 absentee voters for the 2016 elections as of yesterday morning. He expects this number to reach 300.
He encourages Filipinos to register as early as possible before the deadline in 2015.
The consulate general plans more frequent visits next year, hoping for a visit every two months.
They surpassed their preregistration for passport renewal halfway through their four-day mission, Auxilian said.
Do they plan to reopen the consulate general on Saipan? “We cannot answer that,” Auxilian said, adding that the Philippine government has the final say.
He said the Consulate General in Guam already jurisdiction over the CNMI, Palau and the rest of Micronesia since offices closed in 2013.
