ANSON-ROA VOWS MORE SCHOOLS FOR OFWs' CHILDREN ABROAD February 10, 2004 Senatorial candidate Boots Anson-Roa yesterday vowed to spearhead the approval of a law providing for more Philippine schools abroad for children of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). “Children of school age who are staying with their fathers or mothers working overseas should be given access to education by building government-recognized schools in their parents’ places of work,” said Anson-Roa, who is running for the Senate under the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino led by the presidential tandem of Fernando Poe Jr. and Senator Loren Legarda. She noted that not enough Philippine schools have been established in countries hosting large concentrations of OFWs, thus depriving several thousands of their children of elementary education. A former press attaché and cultural officer of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, Anson-Roa was among the Filipinos who pioneered the setting up of a school for children of Filipinos in the coumtry. She taught Philippine history and culture in the said school. “We should bring education to these children by building more schools in their locations and hire enough competent teachers to handle their classes,” the multi-awarded actress said, adding that a delay in their education by a few years is so much wasted time. Now a professor in the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University, Anson-Roa said she would author a bill calling for free education in the proposed Philippine schools in recognition of the great contributions of OFWs to the national economy in terms of their foreign exchange remittances amounting to US$7 billion annually. The KNP senatorial bet said that if the government is true to its concern for the millions of OFWs who are acknowledged as the nation’s modern economic heroes, it should provide enough schools for their children staying with them overseas. There are an estimated seven to eight million OFWs working in some 150 countries abroad. Over the years, several thousands of children have been born in their places of work. According to Anson-Roa, majority of these children are deprived of basic education because there are no schools for them. “Only a few can afford the facilities of international schools because of the prohibitive enrolment costs,” she said.