Section 25Sec./Art. 25

Congressional Oversight Committee and Submission of Annual Reports. There shall be created a Congressional Oversight Committee on Migrant Workers to monitor and oversee the implementation of the provisions of this Act.

The Committee shall be composed of six (6) members from the Senate and six (6) members from the House of Representatives with the Chairperson of the Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development of the Senate as Co-chairpersons. The other members from each Chamber are to be designated by the Senate President and the

Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively. The minority shall be entitled to pro rata representation but shall have at least two (2) representatives from each Chamber.

In addition, the Department shall submit an annual report to the Congressional Oversight Committee within thirty (30) days from the end of each calendar year, detailing the number of OFWs in each country and/or region, a status report of their situations, including the problems and issues they encountered, and such other relevant information to properly inform the public and the policymakers of the performance of the Department and the situation of OFWs around the world. The annual report shall include:

(a) Master list of Filipino migrant workers, and inventory of pending cased involving them, including those serving prison terms;

(b) Working conditions of Filipino migrant workers;

(c) Problems encountered by the migrant workers, specifically violations of their rights;

(d) Initiatives/actions taken by the Philippine Foreign Service Posts to address the problems of Filipino migrant workers;

(e) Changes in the laws and policies of host countries;

(f) Status of negotiations on bilateral labor agreements between the Philippines and the receiving country.

Any officer of the government who fails to submit the report as stated in this section shall be subject to an administrative penalty of dismissal from the service with disqualification to hold any appointive public office for five (5) years.