CEBU CITY — The National Reintegration Center for OFWs in Central Visayas (NRCO-7), a bureau of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), has given out a total of PHP150,000 livelihood assistance to distressed female returning OFWs in the region recently.

Regional NRCO coordinator Dexter Paro on Wednesday said at least 15 OFWs each received PHP10,000 worth of grocery items and two sacks of rice, enough for them to start their own mini-grocery livelihood projects.

The mini-grocery livelihood assistance, Paro said, is under the NRCO’s “Balik Pinay! Balik Hanapbuhay!” Program.

According to Paro, the beneficiaries used to work as domestic helpers, dressmakers, sewers, cooks, and teachers in Hongkong, Malaysia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and East Africa.

They are considered distressed as they were either maltreated, unpaid, abused, illegally terminated, illegally deployed, or imprisoned, which are some of the clear-cut reasons why OFWs return home.

Because of the aforementioned conditions, the DOLE-NRCO implemented the “Balik Pinay! Balik Hanapbuhay” Program to address the needs of the affected returning OFWs.

Eligible and priority beneficiaries of the program are distressed workers sheltered by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office at the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Resource Center as well as other displaced women household service workers.

The awarding of livelihood assistance to the 15 distressed returning OFWs from Cebu, Bohol, and Negros Oriental was held last March 24 at the DOLE-7 regional office in Cebu City.

The “Balik Pinay! Balik Hanapbuhay” Program is a training cum-employment intervention intended to bring about improved socio-economic well-being of distressed female returning OFWs for productive reintegration. (PNA)