21 November 2023, Seoul - 209 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) graduated as part of the 2nd batch of the 2023 Livelihood Skills Training for Reintegration Program organized by the Philippine Embassy and the Migrant Workers Office-Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (MWO-OWWA) in Seoul. The graduation ceremony was held on 12 November 2023 at the Sentro Rizal Hall of the Embassy.

The Embassy's on-site reintegration program is in line with the National Reintegration Program and OWWA's livelihood and entrepreneurship skills development program for OFWs. It aims to help Filipinos working in Korea to effectively plan and prepare for their orderly, safe and productive reintegration.

The OFWs completed the series of skills training courses, which include Basic and Advance Sewing, Basic and Advance Photography, Barista, Basic Bartending, Basic Baking (Bread, Cookies and Cakes), Videography, and Korean Side Dishes Making. They were held regularly every weekend from March to April and August to October 2023 at the Embassy's Migrant Workers Resource Center.

In her inspirational message, Ambassador Ma. Theresa B. Dizon-De Vega encouraged the graduates to seize and maximize every opportunity while working abroad to learn from the innovation, technology, and business trends in the host country as part of their conscious effort to prepare for reintegration. "As OFWs, let us develop an intellectual curiosity; let us keenly observe how products or services around us can be actually transferred or applied in our home country. Let us use these learnings alongside the knowledge gained from the Embassy's regular entrepreneurship development, skills training, financial literacy and Know-Your-Rights and Obligation seminars", the Ambassador said. She added that the skills training courses were carefully selected by the MWO-OWWA for being practical, low-capital, and easy to start-up livelihood projects.

Dr. Regis Romero II, a highly-respected Filipino business leader and former Supreme Commander and Member, Council of Elders of the Knights of Rizal graced the event and gave a message to the future OFW-entrepreneurs. Citing the example of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, he also urged the OFWs in Korea to bring home with them new ideas, skills and tools imbued with the passion to help improve the quality of life, general welfare, and economy of the country.

Mr. Arnaldo Hicban and Mr. Michael Angelo Santos, both EPS workers and graduates of the skills training, thanked the Embassy and MWO-OWWA for organizing the reintegration program activities for OFWs in Korea. Both are photography enthusiasts who honed their skills and learned photobooth operations by attending previous Basic and Advance Photography workshops, and the Videography class this October. They are now proud owners of "Saranghae Chinguya Photography and Photobooth" with two branches in Pampanga, Philippines and with their newly gained skills, look forward to expanding their business with videography services.

The Embassy invites the OFWs and Filipino community in Korea to await the opening of the 2024 Livelihood Skills Training series which is expected to commence in the 1st quarter next year. END