Protect overseas women workers; adopt holistic, gender-based approach

As the nation applauds the unstinting contribution of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), it is equally important to pay attention to the plight of abused women workers.

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This was pointed out by Rep. Bryan Revilla, the chairperson of the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs.

He observed that three out of four, or 75 percent of the nearly 24,000 abuse cases involved women workers in the Gulf region, and that "the other side of the story does not tell of prosperity... but of pain." The irony, as he has aptly noted, is that the blight suffered by our women does not end within the country, but continues in their trail as they seek the proverbial greener pastures in foreign lands. abundance of oil and gas reserves. Thousands of OFWs are employed in countries in the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf whose economies are powered by an abundance of oil and gas reserves.

What is clearly needed is "a holistic, gender-based approach" that would enhance protection for our women workers overseas and provide them adequate assistance.