The Philippine Embassy Brunei through the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) conducted an information campaign on requirements of Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) and Verification of Contracts on Sunday, 10 April 2011 held in two separate venues at Mumong Complex Stadium, Kuala Belait and at Kampung Baru, Basketball Court, Seria.

The briefing was made possible with the cooperation of Ms. Jamila Binti Abdullah, representative of Kuala Belait District and FAB Chairman Willy Tabion at Seria District.

The objectives of the information campaign was to brief Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), on (1) the requirements for obtaining OEC and (2) the requirements for contract verification for OFWs particularly household service workers, who change their employer and/or have a new/revised contract.

New Labor Attaché Ana C. Dione explained that the new requirements were brought about by the enactment of RA 10022 which amended RA 8042 known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act and took effect on 08 November 2010.

Significant amendments included restrictive criteria for deployment of OFWs, restoration of the 3-month back wages option, and privatization of compulsory insurance.

These amendments were established to promote a higher standard of protection for OFWs.

She emphasized the POLO's responsibility in implementing RA 10022, particularly in strictly implementing the requirements for issuing an OEC and processing overseas deployment/employment contract in Brunei.

She also discussed the Philippine Government's efforts to address the problems of Filipino migrant workers, particularly violation of their contracts and the challenge of creating and updating a masterlist of Filipino workers in host country.

She encouraged the participants to share the information from the briefing with other Filipinos to facilitate their transactions at POLO.

Labatt Dione also mentioned the plan to conduct mobile issuance of OEC and verification of employment contract in Kuala Belait and Seria during peak season (possibly in February, March, November and December), subject to availability of appropriate space and internet connection to access POEA's database.