Following the conference in Taiwan, the PMRW seized the opportunity to hold a General Assembly (GA) of its member-organizations.  Six representatives from the seven regular member-organizations in the Philippines were present, namely:  Apostleship of the Sea-Philippines (AOS), Development Action for Women Network (DAWN), Episcopal Commission for Migrants and Itinerant People of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (DCMI-CBCP), Scalabrini Center for People on the Move (SCPM), Scalabrinian Lay Association(SLA), and the Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC). The Center for Migrant Advocacy-Philippines (CMA) is also a regular member but was notable to send a representative to the meeting.  What made the meeting more special was the rare presence of PMRW’s associate members.  There were four representatives from the associate members namely, Mr. Jigger Latoza of the Martin de Rada Human Rights Bureau based in Iloilo, Mr. Johann Ketelers of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) in Geneva,  Ms. Cora Adalla of Daejeon Moyse in Korea, and Fr. Bruno Cicere, of the Stella Maris International Service Centre in Taiwan.  The Seoul Archdiocese Labor Pastoral Commission in Korea was notable to send a representative to the conference and the meeting.  The meeting started in the afternoon of December8 and continued in the morning of December 9. It was held at St. Christopher’s Church in Taipei through the hospitality of its Parish Priest, Fr. Nilo Mantilla.

The meeting started with the report of the PMRW President, Ms. Mel Nuqui, highlighting PMRW’s accomplishments for the year 2007.  She mentioned PMRW’s advocacy, networking, and lobbying activities related to the Overseas Absentee Voting Process during the 2007 elections. She also cited PMRW’s participation in the congressional hearings on Household Service Workers policy reforms, and at the bicameral conference committee for the finalization of the amendments to RA 8042 in January2007.  As part of its strategic communication campaign, she cited the continuous publication of PMRW’s quarterly newsletter, The Migrant Watch, and the good number of users of the PMRW’s website in 2007.  She also re-ported that PMRW published a book “Migrants Stories, Mi-grants’ Voices, a collection of stories of migrants and members of their families. Book launchings were held in different regions in Luzon. These were during the Forum on Il-legal Recruitment in Lipa, Batangas, the Forum on the prosecutions and convictions on illegal recruitment and OWWA programs in San Fernando, Pampanga, and at a similar forum held in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya .At present, the PMRW is pre-paring book II of “Migrants Stories, Migrants’ Voices”.  The treasurer also reported on PMRW’s status of finance. Members commended the organization for the good management of its resources.

Part of the agenda was the program for December 18, 2007 in relation to the celebration of International Migrants’ Day.   The PMRW, through Administrative Order 202signed by the President, was appointed as the Chair of the Inter-Agency committee for the observance of the Month of Overseas Filipinos. It was reported that for this year’s celebration, a whole day forum and a concert in the evening for the OFWs and their families will be held at the Coconut Palace in Pasay City.

During the General Assembly, the members of PMRW each presented their organization’s programs and services, in order to acquaint those who are not too familiar with them. The GA also provided a venue to identify some gaps and look into how the members can better communicate with each other. It also identified possible work collaboration between and among the members to effectively respond to mi-grants’ issues and concerns. The meeting was adjourned in time for PMRW’s participation in the rally of migrant workers in Taiwan.