Demand for OFWs remain high in Mideast despite crisis

MANILA, Philippines - Countries in the Middle East will continue to be the market for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as their demand for construction workers stays up.

Administrator Jennifer Manalili of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said the global economic downturn has also affected oil-rich nations in the Middle East, but some sectors had been spared.

"In fact, the construction industry in the Middle East like in Qatar remains to be OK," Manalili said in an interview.

According to Manalili, construction firm Alhab Toor Engineering in Dubai has already transferred more than 1,000 of its Filipino workers to Qatar, where the construction industry is booming.

"Dubai is affected like Alhab Toor, but instead of having their employees returned to their country the company absorbed and transferred them to their construction firm in Qatar," Manalili revealed.

She said that in her meeting with the labor minister of Qatar last month, "they affirmed their commitment of hiring OFWs in their construction jobs."

The POEA chief said that in January alone, a total of 8,000 Filipino construction workers have been deployed to Qatar and they expect it to double in the next few months.

Manalili said Qatar would be in need of welders, engineers, pipe fitters and other skilled workers for its construction jobs.

Aside from Qatar, Manalili said Libya is another market for OFWs due also to its booming construction works.

Manalili is optimistic that while some countries have been affected by the financial crunch and forced to lay off some Filipino workers, the crisis would not affect the deployment target.

"I don’t have the figures yet but I think it will not have significant drop… we will have the figures by end of February," Manalili said.

As of February 13, Manalili said the number of OFWs who were displaced as a result of the financial meltdown was placed at 5,300. But she said the situation is now stabilizing.

POEA records show that deployment of OFWs for the year 2008 reached 1.376 million or an increase of 27 percent from the 1.077 million recorded in 2007. - GMANews.TV

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