SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga, March 3, 2011-Hundred families and relatives of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), students, and parishioners of the Catholic Church in Pampanga are expected to gather to celebrate the national Migrants day on March 6 at Santo Tomas town headed by Reverend Father Arnie Serrano, the director of the Archdiocese Commission on Family and Life.
Ed Balagtas, core group member and head of paralegal and advocacy of the Pampanga Archdiocesan Migrants’ Desk (PAMD) said that the group was organized to provide various services and assistance to families of OFWs in the province where Father Serrano has lined-up various activities to make the annual celebration of migrants’ day more meaningful to the families and relatives of OFWs.
Balagtas said that they already advised the participants to assemble at seven o’clock in the morning at the Pampanga provincial Capitol before going to the St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Santo Tomas where a mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Paciano B. Aniceto.
The PAMD will award the winners in the provincial search for the top three outstanding sons and daughters of migrant workers dubbed Gawad Anak ng OFW after the mass.
Rose Clarie Feliciano, PAMD core group member said that the provincial winners will vie for the national search for the ten outstanding sons and daughters of OFWs scheduled on March 17, adding that on the same day, a service forum will be held with representatives of government agencies concerned with the welfare of OFWs as resource persons.
The local Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth), Social Security System and the Public Employment Services Office (PESO) were also invited including the Pampanga Action Center for OFW Concerns (PACOC), an office recently established by Governor Lilia G. Pineda to provide necessary services and assistance to Capampangans who work abroad, has also been invited to participate in the said service forum.
Earlier, the PAMD was organized five years ago and has been conducting family counseling, especially in matters of spiritual concerns, and providing linkage services with agencies of the government among the families of the OFWs which aimed to strengthen the families left behind by the migrant workers by providing necessary counseling services through the parish migrant desk coordinators.
Records showed that the PAMD has coordinators in the parishes of San Roque and St. Rafael in Lubao; St. James in Betis, Guagua; Sto. Tomas; Virgen delos Remedios in Dila-Dila, Sta. Rita; Holy Rosary in Angeles City; Sacred Heart in Palmayo and Divine Mercy in San Jose and Mother of Perpetual Help in Gutad, all in Floridablanca; Sto.Niño in the City of San Fernando; and La Consolacion and Immaculate Conception, both in Guagua. (Jason de Asis)
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