ILOILO CITY — In February 2026, the Iloilo City government quietly launched a dedicated Overseas Filipino Worker Help Desk under Executive Order No. 092, a sub-unit of the Public Employment Service Office designed as a single entry point for migrant workers who previously had to navigate multiple agencies alone. For the estimated 10,000 Ilonggo OFWs deployed across the Middle East and beyond, the desk eliminates the exhaustion of being bounced between offices while carrying the weight of a lost job, an expired visa, or a family crisis an ocean away. "Our OFW desk is a one-stop shop for referrals, assistance, protection and reintegration of migrant workers," said Gab Umadhay, PESO manager. "This time, they will just go to us, and we will be the ones to process everything."
The help desk, which operates with at least one dedicated personnel focused specifically on repatriation and reintegration, consolidates services that were previously scattered across multiple agencies. Before its creation, a distressed OFW returning to Iloilo City might be referred to the City Health Office for medical needs, the City Social Welfare and Development Office for financial aid, and the Department of Labor and Employment for employment concerns, each referral requiring separate visits, separate paperwork, and separate waiting periods. Now, PESO handles the referrals internally, pulling in partner agencies as needed rather than sending the OFW out to find them.
An Ordinance and an Executive Order Working in Tandem
The creation of the help desk was not a single stroke of the mayor's pen. It rested on two parallel tracks: Executive Order No. 092, signed by Mayor Raisa Treñas to immediately operationalize the service, and a proposed ordinance authored by Councilor Alan Zaldivar that is currently under committee deliberation after passing first reading at the City Council. The ordinance, once enacted, will codify the desk's functions into local law, ensuring that its existence does not depend on the tenure of any single administration.
Zaldivar described an intervention that is "not only economic but also psycho-social," a recognition that the wounds carried home by OFWs are rarely confined to the wallet. The ordinance mandates skills training programs to strengthen the capabilities of returning workers, drawing on programs from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the Department of Labor and Employment, and the City Social Welfare office. "There will be a skills training program to strengthen the skills of our returning OFWs," Zaldivar said. "We will onboard programs of agencies like OWWA, DOLE, and City Social Welfare on how to conduct case management to establish proper intervention for returning OFW."
A Database, a Reintegration Fund, and a City That Wants Its Workers Back
Beyond the immediate crisis response, the help desk serves a longer-term purpose that PESO has quietly been building toward. Umadhay said the centralized intake process will enable the creation of a comprehensive database of Iloilo City residents working abroad, data that will allow the city to track deployment patterns, anticipate repatriation surges, and preposition resources before a crisis erupts rather than scrambling after one has already begun. The city government has allocated funds specifically for the reintegration program, which will supplement the existing menu of services: referrals for local or overseas employment, social aid through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations program, and additional capital for returning OFWs who already have existing businesses to revive or expand.
The help desk arrived in the same month that the city began profiling over 800 OFWs in the Middle East amid escalating regional tensions. By early March, 16 Ilonggo OFWs had already requested repatriation. By May, 24 had received PHP10,000 in direct financial aid along with job placement assistance and free training programs through PESO. For the OFW who steps off a plane at Iloilo International Airport carrying nothing but a suitcase and the residue of a contract that ended badly, the help desk on the ground floor of the city's employment office represents the difference between starting over alone and starting over with an institution that has already prepared for your arrival.
