Qualified Balik Manggagawa Exempted from OEC

Starting September 15 2016, Overseas Filipino Workers or OFW's who are returning to the same employer and job site and listed in the POEA database of OFW's or those hired thru POEA's government placement branch, are exempted from OEC requirement.

This move to exempt OFW's from the OEC requirement came from the directive of President Duterte to minimize the timeline in acquiring documents needed by OFW's and ease transactions before government offices. This directive initiated the issuance of POEA board resolution No. 12 series of 2016 which exempts qualified Balik Manggagawa in the OEC requirement by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration or POEA. The POEA governing board who signed the resolution is composed of DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III as its chairperson, Hans Leo J. Cacdac as vice-chair, and members Felix M. Oca, Estrelita S. Hizon, Alexander E. Asuncion, and Milagros Isabel A. Cristobal.

Take note that this qualified Balik Manggagawa exemption from the OEC is on an experimental basis and POEA Administrator Cacdac must report to Secretary Bello and the rest of the governing board about the implementation of the said OFW OEC exemption after one month of its implementation.