DFA: More jobs await OFWs in 2009

By MARIA ALETA O. NIEVA, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 12/24/2008 10:36 AM



Overseas Filipino workers have much to look forward to in the coming year as new job opportunities open up abroad despite the financial crisis, the Department of Foreign Affairs said
In a press conference, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo allayed fears that majority of OFWs will lose their jobs amid the global economic downturn.

“Fortunately, so far Filipinos are not affected but in fact there are opportunities for Filipinos,” Romulo said.

He said that most OFWs who are being sent home have already reached the end of their contracts. He said, however, that he has to receive data about retrenchment of OFWs in the United States.

“As far as I know, we have no data on US. What we're hearing and what's being written in the papers come from Taiwan and South Korea,” he said.

Romulo said Labor Secretary Marianito Roque confirmed that employment opportunities in places such as Adelaide, Australia are increasing.

Even the Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines said there is a need for construction workers to handle infrastructure projects in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia.

Esteban Conejos Jr., DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs, also said that the Qatar government needs about 36,000 Filipino workers.

He also said ambassadors assigned to various countries in the Middle East have reported no massive layoffs of Filipino workers under their jurisdiction.

Ambassadors to foreign posts have been instructed to give the foreign affairs department a periodic report about layoffs and job openings in their jurisdiction.

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