OVERSEAS FILIPINO workers (OFWs) from Iloilo province send home about P12 billion annually, one of the highest in the country. “The country’s estimated OFW remittance is P30 billion and P12 billion of which came from Iloilo,” said Jose Felino P. Resol, Jr., area development coordinator of Atikha Overseas Workers and Communities Initiative, Inc., a nongovernment organization focused of assisting OFWs and their families. Atikha, along with national government labor agencies and with assistance from the United Nations, held a Family and Income Management Training last Friday in Iloilo City. It is part of Pinoy WISE (Worldwide Initiative for Investment Saving and Entrepreneurship) Ladderized intervention program of Atikha. “We want to inform our OFWs that there is a program like that in Iloilo,” Mr. Resol said. Atikha estimates that there are about 200,000 OFWs from the province and the independent city of Iloilo. The top sources of migrant workers in Iloilo are the towns of Oton, Miagao, and Pototan. Aileen Constantino-Peñas, Atikha deputy executive director, said they chose Iloilo for the program because of the massive number of domestic workers from the province. Iloilo is also a top source of seafarers, Ms. Peñas added. — Louine Hope U. Conserva

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