POEA clarifies rise in OFW deployment for 2008

MANILA, Philippines - Overseas Filipino worker (OFW) deployment for 2008 rose by only 14.7 percent, not by 30 percent as earlier reported, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) clarified.

In a statement released January, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said that the Philippine government exceeded its deployment target by more than 300,000 new hires in 2008 – an increase of almost 30 percent compared to the same period in 2007.

It also said that 1,376,823 Filipinos left the country last year to look for greener pastures abroad. [See: OFW deployment in 2008 up by 30%]

The POEA, however, recently clarified that only 1,236,013 Filipino workers were actually deployed in 2008, which is 14.7 percent higher than the year before. Of the number, 376,973 were land-based new hires – a 20 percent increase from the 313,360 new hires deployed in 2007.

POEA Administrator Jennifer Manalili said she cited the new figures to rectify reports that they were purposely “bloating" the figure to mislead the public of the true status of the industry.

“OFW deployment figures for 2008 require thorough finalization and disaggregation. Hence, it is not true that the DOLE nor the POEA released final deployment figures last January with the intent to mislead the recruitment industry," she said.

The adjusted deployment report, meanwhile, still cites the Middle East as the foremost destination of OFW new hires in 2008, with a 33 percent increase in deployment as compared to 2007.

It said that new hire deployment rose in Saudi Arabia (25.4 percent), United Arab Emirates (71.5 percent), Qatar (46.5 percent), and Oman (39.7 percent).

There was, however, a fall in the new hire deployment in traditional household service workers markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Kuwait.

Processed OFW contracts for 2008, on the other hand, totaled to 1,464,295 – representing an increase of 12.1 percent from the year before.

“The notable number of processed contracts for the last quarter of 2008 is expected to a huge number of actual deployments for the first quarter of 2008, a not unusual situation," said Manalili.

The POEA chief, meanwhile, said that they are still inviting the recruitment industry to further enhance their “statistical coordination efforts." - GMANews.TV

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