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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more