The Philippine Senate approved on third and final reading a bill that would set up a long-term reintegration system for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families, with 17 senators voting in favor on Thursday, October 8, 2026.
Senate Bill No. 2423, the proposed Bagong Balikbayang Manggagawa Act, received no negative votes and no abstentions. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had certified the measure as urgent. The bill passed second reading on September 28.
Lawmakers have said existing reintegration programs often leave returning OFWs unemployed or underemployed months after they come home, even though they gained skills and experience abroad.
The bill would expand access to education, skills training, psychosocial services, livelihood assistance, entrepreneurship programs, and job opportunities for returning workers and their families. It would also coordinate government programs so that returning migrant workers receive continuous help with employment, livelihood, and reintegration. Skills, qualifications, and professional experience gained overseas would be recognized and used in the domestic labor market.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) welcomed the approval and thanked Marcos for certifying the bill as urgent.
“The passage of the Bagong Balikbayang Manggagawa Act is an important step to ensure that our services for OFWs continue until their return – through care, knowledge, livelihood, employment, and opportunities for them and their families,” Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said.
After the vote, Cacdac met with Sen. Raffy Tulfo, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Migrant Workers, and Sen. Joel Villanueva to discuss further measures on OFW welfare and protection.
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, who co-sponsored the proposal in August, said it would help returning OFWs move from work abroad to productive lives in the Philippines. Tulfo presided over a joint committee hearing on the proposal on March 5, 2026, in Pasay City. Cacdac and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Administrator Patricia Yvonne Cunanan attended.
The House of Representatives passed its own version, House Bill 6643, or the Bagong Balikbayan Act, on third and final reading on December 16, 2025, and sent it to the Senate the next day. In February, Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre urged senators to act on the measure, timing his appeal to the yearly wave of OFWs who return home after the holidays.
“Every first quarter of the year, we see OFWs come home with plans to rebuild their lives,” Acidre said. “This bill ensures they are not left to navigate that transition alone, but are met with clear pathways to work, livelihood and family stability.”
The House bill requires Migrant Workers Offices to begin reintegration services six months before an OFW’s intended return. It also bars denial of reintegration services to undocumented OFWs because of their status. It is not stated whether the Senate version contains the same provisions.
The Senate and House must now reconcile their versions, usually through a bicameral conference committee, before the final text goes to the President for signing.
