Crisis will not affect OFW deployment, DOLE says

MANILA, Philippines - The current global crisis on food and fuel will not affect the deployment of Filipino workers abroad, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque on Friday said that despite the global economic crunch, OFW deployment in the first half of the year went up and that most of the workers were bound for the Middle East.

“I don’t have the exact figure but it went up beyond 6 percent in the first semester," Roque said in an interview.

The labor secretary explained that the high demand for fuel has created a "boom" in the industry which resulted in the demand for workers. He said that in Saudi Arabia alone, the embassy processes 1,000 visas of Filipino workers daily.

Engineers, architects, construction workers, welders and even nurses are currently in demand in Saudi Arabia because of the construction of several infrastructure projects, he added.

Roque's assurance came amid the warning from labor group, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) that the crisis on food and fuel might result in the displacement of Filipino workers, particularly in Taiwan, from their jobs abroad. According to TUCP 90,000 Filipinos might be affected by the economic slump.

On Friday, Roque did not mention Taiwan but said that there was no need to impose mitigating measures because OFWs are not likely to be displaced.

“The crisis is not in the Middle East, it's in the US and we don’t have that much OFWs there," Roque said.

However, Roque said that should there be any returning OFWs it won't be a problem because the country has integrated programs and livelihood assistance which are in place to assist displaced OFWs.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) data showed that some 516,466 documented OFWs have been deployed from January to May this year.

The same data showed that new hires increased by 8.6 percent from 142,618 to 154,841 from January to May this year.

“The 516,466 OFWs deployed from January to May 2008 represents a substantial growth of 12.4 percent (+57,052), from the total 459,414 OFWs deployed in the same period in 2007," Roque said.

Aside from Saudi Arabia, Roque said other countries in the Middle East like the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are hiring more OFWs to fill the vacancies. - GMANews.TV

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