The Governing Board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA),has approved a resolution requiring all first time overseas land-based and sea-based worker-applicants to undergo mandatory Pre-Employment Orientation Seminar (PEOS) through the PEOS Online website, at no cost.
The PEOS is designed to help an OFW prepare in terms of having the right information needed to ensure success in working abroad.
In a statement, Labor & Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, also chairman of the POEA Governing Board underscore the need to provide better protection and empowerment to prospective OFWs through a comprehensive education program that provides adequate, relevant, and useful information to guide overseas worker-applicants in the important decision on whether to consider overseas employment over local employment or other livelihood opportunities available in the country.
Baldoz said the POEA has made available the PEOS modules online to effect such a comprehensive education program.
The online version of the PEOS boasts of comprehensive self-training modules that highlight everything prospective OFWs need to know about working overseas, such as the application requirements and procedures, as well as POEA services using video clips and presentation slides.
Baldoz said the resolution also addresses the clamor from various non-government organizations, civil society, and even industry leaders to make the PEOS mandatory, particularly to first time overseas worker-applicants.
“The PEOS was instituted as a welfare intervention to complement the Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) in providing information that would prepare and guide workers in making a responsible choice about going abroad,” Baldoz said.
Overseas worker-applicants can log on to www.peos.poea.gov.ph anytime at the comfort of their home, in an internet cafe, or even through their mobile devices, to experience PEOS almost similarly to as if they were doing it inside the training room.
The PEOS Online has eight modules. The first module is called P.R.I.C.E.S.T. which stands for physical mobility, relationship, income, career movement and direction, expenses, skills, and time. Module 2 is about job search, or where one can find employment the legal way. Module 3 tackles the POEA’s campaign against illegal recruitment and teaches users about the schemes employed by recruiters.
Module 4 is about the prices and fees that an OFW needs to consider and pay should he/she decides to give the overseas job a go. Module 5 provides users details or provisions that they need to look into when signing contracts.
Module 6 provides information about a particular country, its culture, and customs. Module 7 is about staying healthy and keeping safe in the host country, and Module 8 provides users with a directory of POEA officials should they need assistance.