MANILA – The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Wednesday signed an agreement with Cebu Pacific and Aboitiz InfraCapital Cebu Airport Corporation for the creation of an overseas Filipino workers (OFW) center at the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Under the deal, an OFW processing center will be set up at MCIA, which would provide various services to migrant workers and their families.

Its construction is expected to be finished by April this year and could fully operate by June 7, 2025. 

Medical and legal services will be available in the processing centers, which aim to ease departures and arrivals for OFWs, said DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac.

“Yung access sa aming processing venues, we will provide the necessary comfort and services while they are waiting. Kumbaga, coffee and food and all those things will be made available to them. As I said, this will transcend to even better such as the lounges in NAIA that served 1 million already,” he added. 

Cacdac said more OFW centers would be established soon in the country’s international airports and discussions are underway. These processing centers are already present in the Ninoy Aquino International Airports, he added. 

Julius Neri, CEO and general manager of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, said the creation of the OFW Center sought to make assistance and customer service easy to access. 

“One of the concerns was how big would the area be. I would like to emphasize that we would adjust very quickly to whatever the needs are. If the traffic would grow, we would create a bigger area right away,” said Neri. 

The officials declined to reveal how much the project would cost, saying they would instead focus on maintaining standards and providing the best passenger experience.