Baldoz orders OWWA to review the PDOS and weed out ‘undesirable’ providers

Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz and President Benigno Aquino III. Photo courtesy of Malacanang Photo Bureau.

MANILA, July 3 (PNA) — Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz has ordered a review of the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) being provided to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

Baldoz directed Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Chief Rebecca Calzado to assess the PDOS and its content and to eliminate PDOS providers who are not qualified to offer it.

“I have been receiving persistent complaints that some PDOS providers are allowing private banks, remittance companies, and insurance agencies to eat much time of the PDOS to promote their businesses among OFWs, with less and less time devoted to the substantial — and more important — aspects of what OFWs expect and need to do once they have been deployed to their countries of destination,” Baldoz said.

She added that the OWWA should regularly monitor and assess the performance of the PDOS providers, rate them accordingly, and withdraw or cancel the registration or accreditation of those who are allowing the PDOS to be used as some kind of marketing outlet by private businesses.

“We would like to see a more improved and responsive PDOS, particularly the quality of instruction and the quality of the people who conduct it,” the DOLE chief said.

Baldoz, who is the chairperson of the OWWA Board of Trustees, is expecting a report to be given to her in a month.

“I want an evaluation report in a month on how PDOS providers are implementing the OWWA’s PDOS module and how many are living up to the true intent of the PDOS — as frontline learning and information providers for OFWs before they are deployed,” she added.