BONTOC, Mountain Province – The prayer of applicants from Mountain Province seeking job opportunities abroad to avail of soft loans they needed for the payment of their placement fee and other general expenses has been answered following the deployment of some 168 local residents as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to around 19 countries, Gov. Leonard Mayaen said here.
Mayaen said the provincial government provided the required placement fees amounting to around P60,000 up to P100,000 to those local residents who want to work abroad but do not have the sufficient funds for them to be able to settle the placement fees being required by their placement agencies.
Under the province’s Overseas Employment Fund (OEF) assistance program, interested OFWs can avail of a loan corresponding to their placement fees with a commitment to return the borrowed amount to the provincial government within a maximum period of one year or twelve months with a minimal interest of five precent per anum so that other interested OFWs will have something to borrow in the future.
“We want to ease the financial burden of interested OFWs so that they will be able to acquire their desired jobs overseas and will be able to contribute in uplifting the economic status of their families in the future once they are able to earn in their respective work places,”Mayaen stressed.
The governor explained that the program caters to those residing in Mountain Province who are seeking employment abroad or already have valid work contracts.
Cynthia Taguiba, one of Mayaen’s executive assistants who is in charge of the program details, clarified that an applicant must have a valid work contract for working abroad, visa for country destination and must be willing to complete and sign application form, Promissory Note, Memorandum of Agreement and other documents related to the loan. Further, an applicant must have at least two qualified co-makers who are permanent employees of the Provincial Government of Mountain Province in order to guarantee the timely repayment of the borrowed amount that was used to pay the placement fees of the OFWs.
She further instructed applicants to get a copy of the application form and submit the same together with the other requirements at the Office of the Provincial Governor- Executive Assistants Section for the immediate processing of their respective loans in order for them to be able to get their loan within a period of five days.
Taguiba added that the amount loaned by a beneficiary of the program is dependent on the placement fee set by the placement agency and the country destination. Thus, the amount can range from P60, 000 to P100, 000.
Furthermore, Taguiba emphasized there is no quota as to the number of beneficiary to avail of the program as long as the applicant has completed and submitted the requirements required.
Out of the total number, 80 worked in Hongkong, 22 in Taiwan, 14 in Saudi Arabia, 9 in Cyprus, seven in Dubai, five in Malaysia four each in Kuwait, Israel and Canada; three each in Korea, Libya and New Zealand; two each in Russia, Poland and Floriad, United States of America and one each in Hawai, Singapore, Europe and Japan.
