or social welfare attaches, language and translation personnel, and medical teams and doctors - even in countries with relatively large numbers and concentrations of Filipinos (Saudi Arabia being a prominent example). Aside from these however the training of government personnel on the rights of migrant workers and on how to deal with abuses is essential. Relatively few OFWs avail of government welfare programs and services. There is limited detailed information on the extent of OWWAbenefits and services actually delivered by the government to OFWs for instance in terms of education/training assistance, loans for livelihood programs and other pulposes, on-site assistance and repatriation assistance. Aggregate figures are available. In 2008 the OWWA reportedly processed 1,371 insurance claims and 1,117 for disability/dismemberment, gave repatriation assistance to 8,873 OFWs, extended other assistance to 269,565 OFWs, gave educatior/training assistance to 16,674 OFWs, and for reintegration established/approved 725 groceries and livelihood projects. These are small amounts considering the large numbers of OFWs needing assistance and especially given the overall stock of Filipino migrant workers. The quality, impact and sustainability could also be assessed more closely. It has for instance been reported to Migrante that OWWA reports themselves have apparently found that some 8590% of livelihood loans over the 1986-2003 period faced repayrnent difficulties. There are also reports of unduly stringent requirements for accessing livelihood programs, which has given rise to accusations of selective implementation based on political connections and patronage. Domestic implementation is further undermined by basic issues of graft, corruption and political use of resources supposedly for the protection of migrants. The problem of comrption in govemment further diminishes what little services to migrants are currently available. There have been many recent controversies regarding anomalous use of the billions of pesos in OWWA funds in particular. These include the use of OWWA funds to finance PhilHealth cards used for election purposes n2007, the supposed use of funds for evacuations of Filipinos from Iraq that never actually took place in 2003, and the lending of funds to private businessman Reghis Romero to develop the Smokey Mountain dumpsite in the 1990s. Resolution of these issues would however also need to be located in a broader effort to build government capacity in general. VI. Key Elements of Best Practices in Promoting Migrant Rights There are a number of best practices in the Philippines in some of the most important areas for improving the welfare of migrant workers. Many of these were prompted or developed in the course of seeking to address various migrant rights concerns emerging in the course of mass migration. They would be even more effective outside of the overwhelrning burdens placed on governments by aggressive labor export policies. 47