16 - DOLE to put up 4 new labor offices abroad
The government will strengthen the protection of OFWs by establishing four additional Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in strategic areas of the globe where there are great concentrations of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo D. Brion said the DOLE plans to put up four additional POLOs to cover the OFWs in Australia and New Zealand, western Canada, Ireland, and central China.Brion, in a recent budget hearing conducted by the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee chaired by Rep. Edcel Lagman, said that the POLOs worldwide are indispensable, considering that global OFW deployment now reaches one million annually, and that we have a stock of about 8.0 million Filipinos, both temporary and permanent migrants, overseas.
There are 34 POLOs currently providing necessary protection and other pertinent services to OFWs in strategic areas with productive OFW presence, including Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Brussels, Dubai, Geneva, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Jeddah, Jordan, Kaohsiung, Korea, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Macau, Madrid, Milan, Oman, Qatar, Riyadh, Rome, Saipan, Singapore, Taichung, Taipei, Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.Brion indicated the additional four new POLOs are crucial, considering the vast areas where the OFWs are working, with a few or no POLOs in those locations.
"For instance," he said, "Canada is so large, and the demand [for OFWs] in western Canada is so big, [that] we need an additional labor attache there."China, he added, is also so vast that another POLO must be established to cover the central area together with the two existing posts in Hong Kong and Macau.
Noting the need for a POLO amidst the long term growth in the emerging documented OFW markets of Australia and New Zealand, Brion also emphasized the need to put up another post for the first time in Ireland where OFWs, specially overseas Filipino medical personnel, have attained "a very strong presence."DOLE figures indicate that Ireland hosted a total of 5,439 documented OFWs last year, at the same time that the deployment of OFWs in Canada grew by 78.2 percent (+2,839) to 6,468 from 3,629, and in Australia by 295.5 percent (+1,732) to 2,318 in 2006, from 586 in 2005. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong special administrative region in China hosted 96,929 OFWs last year.
"These are our emerging labor markets that will sustain deployment in the years to come," the Labor Chief said.Brion said the presence of POLOs onsite ensures OFWs with protection, such as facilitating onsite services that include welfare, and providing complaints assistance against abusive employers, visitation, humanitarian help, among others.
But, the Labor Chief emphasized that while the OFWs continue to be globally preferred and in continuous demand worldwide, the main policy of the country is not marketing, but the protection of Filipinos who have opted to pursue the work opportunities abroad. (PNA)
Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo D. Brion said the DOLE plans to put up four additional POLOs to cover the OFWs in Australia and New Zealand, western Canada, Ireland, and central China.Brion, in a recent budget hearing conducted by the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee chaired by Rep. Edcel Lagman, said that the POLOs worldwide are indispensable, considering that global OFW deployment now reaches one million annually, and that we have a stock of about 8.0 million Filipinos, both temporary and permanent migrants, overseas.
There are 34 POLOs currently providing necessary protection and other pertinent services to OFWs in strategic areas with productive OFW presence, including Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Brussels, Dubai, Geneva, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Jeddah, Jordan, Kaohsiung, Korea, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Macau, Madrid, Milan, Oman, Qatar, Riyadh, Rome, Saipan, Singapore, Taichung, Taipei, Tokyo, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.Brion indicated the additional four new POLOs are crucial, considering the vast areas where the OFWs are working, with a few or no POLOs in those locations.
"For instance," he said, "Canada is so large, and the demand [for OFWs] in western Canada is so big, [that] we need an additional labor attache there."China, he added, is also so vast that another POLO must be established to cover the central area together with the two existing posts in Hong Kong and Macau.
Noting the need for a POLO amidst the long term growth in the emerging documented OFW markets of Australia and New Zealand, Brion also emphasized the need to put up another post for the first time in Ireland where OFWs, specially overseas Filipino medical personnel, have attained "a very strong presence."DOLE figures indicate that Ireland hosted a total of 5,439 documented OFWs last year, at the same time that the deployment of OFWs in Canada grew by 78.2 percent (+2,839) to 6,468 from 3,629, and in Australia by 295.5 percent (+1,732) to 2,318 in 2006, from 586 in 2005. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong special administrative region in China hosted 96,929 OFWs last year.
"These are our emerging labor markets that will sustain deployment in the years to come," the Labor Chief said.Brion said the presence of POLOs onsite ensures OFWs with protection, such as facilitating onsite services that include welfare, and providing complaints assistance against abusive employers, visitation, humanitarian help, among others.
But, the Labor Chief emphasized that while the OFWs continue to be globally preferred and in continuous demand worldwide, the main policy of the country is not marketing, but the protection of Filipinos who have opted to pursue the work opportunities abroad. (PNA)
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