DOLE sends team to SKorea to ‘preempt’ OFW displacement

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has sent a three-member team to South Korea to help overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) facing retrenchment there to find other employment.

DOLE Secretary Marianito Roque said the team has instructions to prepare OFWs before they actually lose their jobs by offering them other work opportunities.

An article on the DOLE Web site said the team includes personnel from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO).

Roque cited DOLE Administrative Order No. 42 that says the team would coordinate with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Seoul in identifying firms in Korea that have OFWs who are likely to lose their jobs due to global financial crisis' impact.

The team would immediately meet with vulnerable OFWs in the identified firms to do skills profiling, job matching and referrals.

Roque said job matching will include onsite jobs, or local employment in the Philippines where their skills are needed.

OFWs who are in need of skills upgrading and retooling, on the other hand, would be given scholarship training vouchers from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Roque said the TESDA vouchers would enable the OFW-beneficiaries to avail of the training immediately upon their return to the Philippines, thus enhancing their employability locally and overseas.

Also, the three-member DOLE team will provide livelihood orientation to OFWs who may no longer want to work in Korea and instead set up their own business enterprises in the Philippines.

Roque said the team would assist said OFWs in organizing themselves for livelihood projects and also in preparing their business proposals.

Meanwhile, Roque said another DOLE team will be sent to Korea to negotiate for the renewal of the country's participation in the Korean Employment Permit System (EPS).

The last memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the EPS forged in 2006 between the DOLE and the Korean Labor Ministry expired last year.

Roque said the team would meet and discuss with South Korean Ministry of Labor specifically the conclusion of a new EPS MOU that would provide for the recruitment and deployment of OFWs to this country in the next two years.

He said that despite the raging global crisis that had displaced 74 OFWs in Korea, the Philippines is keen on renewing its participation in the Korean EPS as this country continues to prefer for Filipino workers. - GMANews.TV

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