Search for 2012 Model OFW Family of the Year is on

By Rebecca S. Cadavos

Wednesday 15th of August 2012

SOUTHERN LEYTE, Aug 15 (PIA) -- Nominations for the search for 2012 Model Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Family of the Year Award now starts, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Regional Director Norma C. Del Rosario told in a press statement sent to PIA-Maasin.

Nominations from non-government organizations (NGOs), people’s organizations (POs), religious groups, community-based socio-civic organizations/associations and local government units (LGUs) are welcomed, Del Rosario said.

The award-giving program, now on its eighth year, aims to highlight best practices of OFWs and their families in overcoming the challenges of migration, she said.

The search also focuses on OFW families who have nurtured strong family relations, properly managed the financial benefits from overseas employment, have educational achievements and exemplary performace in their respective professions, and at the same time have a positive impact in the community where the family belongs, Del Rosario disclosed further.

There will be two families to be awarded model OFW families, the sea-based and one land-based, after the regional screening and selection set on October 2012.

“Special awards await them and a chance to be nominated and be named as a national OFW family in the National Awarding which will take place sometime in December,” Del Rosario said.

Criteria for nominations include the following: the family is headed by an OFW who is formerly or presently working abroad with a formal or informal contract of employment or work permit, and with proof of OWWA membership; the OFW, either married or single, is the breadwinner of the family and has at least four years of work experience as an OFW; the family is known as a solid/stable family in the locality; and the family is financially stable.

The Director said that no individual nomination will be accepted. Nomination forms and other details of the 2012 Model OFW Family search are available and may be downloaded from the OWWA website www.owwa.gov.ph. (LDL/RGC-PIA8, Southern Leyte)