MANILA – Senator Rodante D. Marcoleta urged the government to allocate at least ₱5 billion annually to the Department of Migrant Workers’ (DMW) Action Fund to support thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) facing legal and welfare issues abroad.

During the budget hearing for the DMW’s proposed 2026 allocation, Marcoleta criticized the low funding for the Action Fund, which provides legal assistance to migrant workers, including those labeled as “huroob” or runaways and other distressed OFWs.

“Ang Action Fund, dapat minimum P5 billion. Alam mo kung bakit? Dito talaga yung problema ng ating OFWs. Kawawa sila, kailangan nila ng legal assistance. Alam kong nagsisikap kayo na paramihin natin ang mga abogadong tutulong sa kanila,” Marcoleta told DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac.

“Lalo na pag binansagan silang ‘huroob’ di ba? Pag huroob na yung ating OFWs, kawawang-kawawa na na ang kanilang buhay. Siguro P5 billion is an underestimation. Baka P10 billion pa nga,” he added.

Marcoleta further suggested that the additional budget should be prioritized over infrastructure projects such as flood control.

“Bakit hindi mo hingin yan? Kaysa naman mapunta sa flood control. Isipin mo itong P5 billion na ito, isang insertion lang nila yan eh. Kasi sa Mindoro pa lang, P13 billion na yun. We should put the money where these are most needed,” the senator said.

Cacdac agreed with Marcoleta’s proposal, saying the current allocation for the Action Fund stands at only ₱2.2 billion—lower than the ₱2.4 billion requested by the agency from the Department of Budget and Management.

“Agree po ako na taasan ang Action Fund. We proposed P2.4 billion, less than what the good Senator had proposed. But as I mentioned, we hit our stride this year and we can easily utilize the P2.2 billion that we were made to handle. So tama po kayo, higit pa sa P2.2 billion ang sa tingin kong absorptive capacity namin,” Cacdac said.

Marcoleta emphasized the need for the government to defend the rights of distressed OFWs abroad instead of merely repatriating them.

“Dapat ilaban muna natin, this is how we teach the employers… kasi karaniwan, kasalanan din ng employer eh. Hindi ko sinasabing walang kasalanan sa atin, but most of the time may kasalanan din ang employer,” he said.

“Ang nagiging problema, pauuwiin kaagad. So pinagtatawanan tayo ng employers, ‘o sige i-haras natin lahat ang mga yan kasi matatakutin ang mga Pilipino, pinauuwi,’” he added.

Cacdac reported that the DMW now has ten in-house lawyers and is working with 22 law firms through the Action Fund.

“We hired ten in-house lawyers, four of them are female. I’m emphasizing this because most of our cases involve our female OFWs, so very sensitive o maselan ang mga facts and discussions sa mga kaso,” Cacdac said.

“They have been handling so far 1,106 cases. And ang tinumbok po namin… ay yung cases where they are needed the most, mainly Saudi, UAE, Lebanon, and Israel. So we have hired these ten in-house lawyers, and this is on top of the 22 law firms that we have also engaged,” he added.

Aside from legal concerns, Cacdac said the Action Fund is also being used to provide medical and financial assistance to distressed OFWs.