More jobs for OFWs expected with planned RP-Australia pact

MANILA, Philippines — Labor Secretary Marianito Roque on Saturday said the Philippines could look forward to sending some 30,000 Filipino workers to southern Australia every year with an agreement soon to be signed.

Roque said the Philippine government, through the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), is set to sign an agreement with Southern Australia after the Holy Week.

“We will be signing an agreement with Southern Australia to allow the entry of Filipino workers. This is what we called Adelite, mostly in mining, transport equipment operators and all other skills involving the mining community," Roque said on Vice President Noli De Castro’s weekly radio program “Para sayo Bayan."

Roque said Southern Australia wants to get Filipino workers only.

“In Southern Australia, they will get 30,000 Filipino workers (every year). All of these will be with working visas for the next ten years. So, in the next ten years, we would be able to send 300,000 Filipino workers. Australia is a continent and their economy is continuous," he said.

Roque said such development would bode well for the country amid fears of mass layoffs that could affect overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) amid a global recession.

He said, however, that the number of OFWs leaving the country to work abroad far outweighs the number of those who lost their jobs so far.

He said those laid off from Taiwan numbered more than 4,000 but some of them have found other jobs.

In United Kingdom, at least 17 Filipinos, all linemen, lost their jobs but 116 visas for OFWs were approved recently.

Roque noted that while the UK has not hired Filipino nurses in the last three years, jobs for nurses there are again opening slowly as the government apparently cannot tighten its belt on health services. “Slowly, but continues," he said.

In Korea, he said only 97 of the expected 38,000 OFWs who will lose their jobs have so far returned to the country.

“The host countries needs Filipino workers because they are hardworking, productive and they are the ones making the moves to retain them (OFWs)," he said.

He further said that while Saudi Arabia asked for 2,000 workers last year, the Philippine government has so far sent only 600 workers.

“The requirement to us is 2,000 workers, but we have only sent 600 just for last year. We still have a balance of 1,400 and they are not even asking for experienced workers as long as they are Muslim. So, our Muslim brothers in Mindanao has the opportunity," he said. - GMANews.TV

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