92 nurses, 188 caregivers hired under JPEPA
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—They may have landed in Japan by this time, savoring the land’s chilly weather and beginning their journey towards a new life of challenge and greater opportunity.
They are the 92 nurses and 188 caregivers who left the country Sunday after being hired in various institutions under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
The stories about life and leaving tell of the same tales as that of thousands of Filipinos working abroad, but each departure always conveys a mixed feeling of joy, sadness and uncertainty.
Japan is not a bed of roses, this much Maria Theresa Urquico knows. She left, anyway, for the benefit of her three children, aged 7, 6, and two-and-a-half years old.
“I’ve read not-so-good stories about Japan, but this opportunity to work there under JPEPA is one that I cannot let pass. For now, this is the best that’s available,” said the 36-year-old nurse in an interview at a send-off ceremony in Quezon City two days before their flight.
Urquico and fellow nurse, Christine Guevarra, have been accepted as “candidate nurse” at the Kurokawa Hospital.
Like the rest of the health workers who were hired under the agreement, they will undergo six-months training to learn the native language before being deployed in their respective institutions.
The health workers would be classified as candidate nurses and caregivers until they pass the licensure examination that would elevate them to the status of being full-fledged nurses and caregivers.
The first licensure examination for nurses is scheduled on February 2010 and would be held every year. Candidate caregivers, meanwhile, need at least three-years of work experience before they can take the national certification examination.
Under their contract, the health workers are eligible to work in Japan for three years and may work there continuously if they pass the examination.
Labor Assistant Secretary Reydeluz Conferido said the candidate nurses and caregivers would receive between 150,000 and 180,000 yen per month.
The standard rate of nurses in Japan is between 350,000 yen to 420,000 yen, he said.
Urquico, who has worked in Saudi Arabia from 1997 to 2006, said she feels jitters taking the examination, but she said they have no choice but to pass the exams to be allowed to continue to stay there beyond three years.
“I hope they also have practical examinations, where they could really see how Filipino nurses work,” she said.
Jesse Rey Cruel, 25, is coming in to Japan as caregiver, although he is a registered nurse.
He said he lacked a few months to complete the requirement that nurses should have at least three years of work experience.
But Cruel sees better prospects in Japan.
He said he’d be assigned in a first-rate hospital in Japan, unlike in Qatar where he worked only in a secondary hospital. Technology is Japan “is a lot better,” he added.
And there is less discrimination, Cruel said.
“I want career development and bigger earning,” he said.
After three years, he said he will take the exam so he could raise his status to a nurse.
Serlun Kiat DaJose of Santiago, Isabela said she is feeling joy and sadness about leaving.
“Joy, because my dreams to support my family would be fulfilled, and sadness because I would be leaving two innocent children – grades 2 and 3 – but I know that God will take care of the rest,” she said as she delivered a response in behalf of the caregivers.
Addressing Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Makato Katsura, DaJose said, “We promise to do our best, work hard, and behave.”
“We hope you will take good care of us the way we take care of you,” she added.
Katsuda said that the hiring of the health workers under JPEPA has “raised to a higher level” the relationship between the Philippines and Japan.
He said the nurses and caregivers might face challenges “that are not easy” but that they should be able to rise above it.
Conferido said he is confident that nurses and caregivers would be able to adapt easily to the Japanese culture and would be able to hurdle the examinations.
”The key here is their grit, their determination, which all of them, I think, have,” he said.
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—They may have landed in Japan by this time, savoring the land’s chilly weather and beginning their journey towards a new life of challenge and greater opportunity.
They are the 92 nurses and 188 caregivers who left the country Sunday after being hired in various institutions under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
The stories about life and leaving tell of the same tales as that of thousands of Filipinos working abroad, but each departure always conveys a mixed feeling of joy, sadness and uncertainty.
Japan is not a bed of roses, this much Maria Theresa Urquico knows. She left, anyway, for the benefit of her three children, aged 7, 6, and two-and-a-half years old.
“I’ve read not-so-good stories about Japan, but this opportunity to work there under JPEPA is one that I cannot let pass. For now, this is the best that’s available,” said the 36-year-old nurse in an interview at a send-off ceremony in Quezon City two days before their flight.
Urquico and fellow nurse, Christine Guevarra, have been accepted as “candidate nurse” at the Kurokawa Hospital.
Like the rest of the health workers who were hired under the agreement, they will undergo six-months training to learn the native language before being deployed in their respective institutions.
The health workers would be classified as candidate nurses and caregivers until they pass the licensure examination that would elevate them to the status of being full-fledged nurses and caregivers.
The first licensure examination for nurses is scheduled on February 2010 and would be held every year. Candidate caregivers, meanwhile, need at least three-years of work experience before they can take the national certification examination.
Under their contract, the health workers are eligible to work in Japan for three years and may work there continuously if they pass the examination.
Labor Assistant Secretary Reydeluz Conferido said the candidate nurses and caregivers would receive between 150,000 and 180,000 yen per month.
The standard rate of nurses in Japan is between 350,000 yen to 420,000 yen, he said.
Urquico, who has worked in Saudi Arabia from 1997 to 2006, said she feels jitters taking the examination, but she said they have no choice but to pass the exams to be allowed to continue to stay there beyond three years.
“I hope they also have practical examinations, where they could really see how Filipino nurses work,” she said.
Jesse Rey Cruel, 25, is coming in to Japan as caregiver, although he is a registered nurse.
He said he lacked a few months to complete the requirement that nurses should have at least three years of work experience.
But Cruel sees better prospects in Japan.
He said he’d be assigned in a first-rate hospital in Japan, unlike in Qatar where he worked only in a secondary hospital. Technology is Japan “is a lot better,” he added.
And there is less discrimination, Cruel said.
“I want career development and bigger earning,” he said.
After three years, he said he will take the exam so he could raise his status to a nurse.
Serlun Kiat DaJose of Santiago, Isabela said she is feeling joy and sadness about leaving.
“Joy, because my dreams to support my family would be fulfilled, and sadness because I would be leaving two innocent children – grades 2 and 3 – but I know that God will take care of the rest,” she said as she delivered a response in behalf of the caregivers.
Addressing Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Makato Katsura, DaJose said, “We promise to do our best, work hard, and behave.”
“We hope you will take good care of us the way we take care of you,” she added.
Katsuda said that the hiring of the health workers under JPEPA has “raised to a higher level” the relationship between the Philippines and Japan.
He said the nurses and caregivers might face challenges “that are not easy” but that they should be able to rise above it.
Conferido said he is confident that nurses and caregivers would be able to adapt easily to the Japanese culture and would be able to hurdle the examinations.
”The key here is their grit, their determination, which all of them, I think, have,” he said.
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