Phl plan to ease rules on hiring of foreign workers bucked

MANILA, Philippines - A group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) yesterday expressed strong opposition to government’s plan to ease regulations on the entry of foreign workers to the country.

Garry Martinez, chairman of Migrante International, said the decision of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to allow the entry of foreign workers is very untimely and “delusional.”

“It is simply so wrong on so many levels. Such a thing is absurd, atrocious and awfully insulting to millions of our Filipino workers and professionals here and abroad,” he added.

Earlier, the DOLE announced the plan to allow the entry of foreign workers to fill certain occupations experiencing a dearth of qualified workers and applicants. The DOLE also said foreign workers who would work in these hard-to-fill jobs would be exempted from paying fees.

But Martinez said it is unfair to exempt foreign workers from paying the mandatory fees while requiring OFWs to pay higher PhilHealth premiums.

He also said the worsening unemployment rate in the country belied DOLE’s claim that there is existing shortage of applicants in certain occupations.

He noted that based on the March 2013 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, the Philippines has a 27.2 percent unemployment rate, which means that more than 11.1 million Filipinos are jobless.

“The main problem is that the Aquino government continues to attempt to downplay the jobs crisis by claiming lower unemployment rates. However, what it fails to mention is that the jobs created were either short-term, contractual and highly disproportional to the ever-growing labor force,” Martinez stressed.