Filipino workers’ digitisation project enters second day

A three-year digitalisation project of the Philippines’ Migrant Workers Office-Dubai (MWO-Dubai) has been adopted by the two-year-old Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and is now on its second day of its month-long pilot-testing.

Launched on July 7 with 81 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) successfully submitting “within four hours” all the required documents despite “minor technical glitches,” this is the beefed up Optional Online Employment Contract Verification System, guaranteed to be safe and secure as it is compliant with the Data Privacy Act 2022 of the Philippines.

Labour Attache in Dubai and the Northern Emirates John Rio Bautista termed the project as a “game-changing system” because staggered debit/credit card online payment, amounting to Dhs61.50, has been added to the Optional Online Employment Verification System, effected since June 2022 and which was able to certify 50,000 job contracts.

DMW improved the MWO-Dubai project so that OFWs have the choice of adhering to the Philippine Government requirement of job contract verification right in the comfort of their homes or offices.

MWO-Dubai and DataFlow Group, a globally-recognised leader in credentials verification and workforce mobility technology, signed the first Memorandum of Agreement last year and for the enhanced Optional Online Employment Contract Verification System on June 6, 2024.

“The project is in compliance with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to digitalise vital government services. We would be saving time and precious resources,” said Bautista.

Moreover, the enhanced procedure addresses overcrowding and the consequent overall health issues such as fatigue, stress, anxiety and anger of all concerned which include employers.

In the case of MWO-Dubai, and on a typical ordinary day, between two and four of the 24-manpower, evaluate a maximum of 250 onsite job contract verification applications.

The number increases to “as high as a thousand a day” during Christmas, Holy Month of Ramadan and towards summer when OFWs take a break and spend time with their kin and kith.

Bautista was hopeful that the upgraded system shall eventually be applied to the other 33 MWOs across Asia (11), Middle East (12), Europe (7), and the Americas (3), adding that MWO-Abu Dhabi would “soon” join the pilot-testing.

Thus, OFWs and other stakeholders in the capital and the Western Region are also going to benefit aside from those in Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.

Before logging into the official MWO website, the applicants must make sure that they have on hand their valid Philippine passport, Emirates Identification Card, and Employment Contract plus their unexpired debit/credit cards as they have to pay at once Dhs21.50 convenience fee for the documents submission to DataFlow Group.

“The fee helps cover the system maintenance and validation services,” said Bautista. Waiting time for the release and download of the verified employment contract, considering that all the required documents are submitted, is three days. A verification fee of Dhs40.00 is paid to the MWO.

“A separate online payment gateway charge of Dhs1.00 will be charged when paying the verification fee and this will go directly to the bank,” said Bautista. In the Monday interview, Bautista mentioned as well the “direct link” of the upgraded Optional Online Employment Contract Verification System “to the DMW Portal E-Registration system” that automatically generates the Overseas Employment Certificate.

It has been a practice – at least among OFWs in the UAE – to have their employment contracts verified when they are going to spend their annual breaks in their country, even as the job contract verification must be ideally done immediately after their respective employment has become official.

Thus, the mention of the OEC application which the Philippine Government requires so that there is a supporting data showing that vacationing OFWs are indeed returning to their respective current jobsites and not elsewhere. From the June 2022 pilot-testing of the Optional Online Employment Contract Verification System interview, Bautista reiterated the relevance of the strict adherence to job contract verification as a paper trail of reviewed and approved employment contract documents are pieces of evidence in case of labour problems.