Global Impact’s anti-human trafficking advocacy campaign Freedom!Philippines held the first of a series of trainings to equip local government unit officials and church leaders with the necessary knowledge, skills and legal foundations for setting-up and mobilizing their own mechanism to respond to the needs and complaints of families of OFWs. Many OFWs are subjected to maltreatment abroad, and many others are victims of illegal recruitment or other forms of human trafficking, thus the effort of Freedom!Philippines to do such activity. Training them to be empowered and equipped with skills and knowledge as the front-runners and first responders to their constituents’ concerns.
Held last March 29-30, 2016 at Cinematheque, Davao city in partnership with the OFW Helpdesk Officers Association (OHOA) based in Manila, the said training had the OHOA founder and President Pastor Joe Biasong as the main resource person with Ms. Lorna Mandin from the IGDD of Davao city as his co-speaker. There were about 18 church leaders and LGU officials from the city as well as from as far as Maguindanao.