The Philippine government is eyeing the installation of digital kiosks at future service caravans for overseas Filipino workers to boost efficiency, following a weekend event in Saudi Arabia that assisted nearly 1,000 migrants with thousands of transactions.
Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac announced the plan Sunday, saying the kiosks would complement in-person interactions and help handle growing demand. The move comes after the seventh leg of the OFW Serbisyo Caravan in Al Khobar from Aug. 15 to 16, where about 980 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) received 4,492 government services.
That followed a similar event in Jeddah from Aug. 8 to 9, benefiting 1,263 OFWs with 4,047 transactions.
“These caravans embody President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to deliver government services directly to our Filipinos abroad,” Cacdac said in a statement, crediting support from First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, various agencies and local Filipino community groups in Saudi Arabia.
Launched in Hong Kong in June, the Bagong Bayani ng Mundo: OFW Serbisyo Caravan has since visited Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Osaka, Japan; Doha, Qatar; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and the two Saudi cities. To date, it has served 11,545 OFWs through 29,044 transactions.
The initiative operates under the administration’s One Country Team Approach, a coordinated strategy involving multiple government bodies to support Filipinos overseas.
Among the most popular services: issuance of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration E-cards, national identification cards, and civil registry documents including birth, marriage and death certificates, as well as certificates confirming no marriage record.
