THE Department of Labor and Employment has activated a tracking system for all overseas Filipino workers intending to return to the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the locator, called the OFW Assistance Information System (OASIS), will facilitate an orderly and smooth repatriation, and assistance to the huge number of returning OFWs.
“An oasis symbolizes hope in a desert of trials. The system that we created aims to give our OFWs a ray of hope by ensuring that we provide them efficient and timely assistance to ease their anxieties when returning home in the midst of this pandemic,” he said.
“Bello said the repatriation tracker will make the government more responsive and prepared for the arrival of our OFWs.
“Through this system, the government can track the whereabouts of our returning OFWs and we can provide them with timely assistance,” he added.
The OASIS, developed by seasoned crisis management personnel from DOLE, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, aims to extend fast and appropriate government assistance to workers who lost their jobs abroad and were forced to go home.
The system, run by the DOLE Command Center, also serves as a reliable database for OFWs displaced by the pandemic to help the government determine and immediately provide the kind of support they need once they land at the country’s airports.
The system will help DOLE identify and classify arriving OFWs in a number of ways to facilitate organized arrival at the airport, efficient swab testing, and rapid pick up and transport to their respective hotels and homes and other necessary processes.
Knowing the airlines the OFWs used, their health condition, local addresses and other relevant data in the tracker will help government dispense assistance they need.
To be tracked, OFWs bound for home are requested to register online with OASIS through www.oasis.owwa.gov.ph. Once there, they need to Click ‘Register’ and fill out the form by providing appropriate data and information.
They should check the box to certify they have read the form, understood its contents and give consent to process their data under the Data Privacy Act of 2012. Then click the ‘submit’ button.
A link will be sent to their emails to notify that they have successfully registered in the OASIS.
To update any information entered in the system, they can click the link sent to their email and proceed with updating their information. Then click the ‘submit’ button.
The forms should be properly accomplished by the OFWs to make the tracking system work effectively.
