19 Syria-based Female OFWs Repatriated

Nineteen Filipino repatriates from Syria arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Thursday night on board a Qatar Airways flight, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Most of Filipino repatriates, all females, were household service workers (HSWs) who expressed their desire to come home to the country due to labor-related issues with their respective employers.

The DFA said this brings the total number of Filipinos repatriated from Syria to 186 from March to September 29.

The embassy and the Overseas Preparedness and Response Team with a 10-member Rapid Reaction Team (RRT) for Syria continue to conduct intensive negotiations with the Filipino repatriates’ employers for the immediate release of their exit visas, the DFA disclosed.

The RRT arrived in Syria on September 6 as augmentation personnel to the embassy in its effort to repatriate Filipinos in the country.

The team is composed of officials from the DFA, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of National Defense and Department of Interior and Local Government.

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DOLE: No Massive OFW Displacement Despite Europe Crisis

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) sees no massive displacement of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) despite the debt crisis in Europe.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the debt crisis affecting Italy and other European countries is unlikely to affect employment of Filipino workers there.

“Even if there is crisis, usually the employers do not pre-terminate existing contracts. They are just finishing their contracts so it won’t affect our workers there,” Baldoz said.

Baldoz noted the DOLE has not observed any sharp decline in hiring or job orders for Filipino workers in Europe at present.

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Legalization of Undocumented OFWs in Syria Urged

A migrant advocate group pushed for the legalization of thousands of undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Syria after it hampered the government’s ongoing repatriation efforts in the Middle East country.

Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Monterona made the statement Friday amid the delays government is now facing in the repatriation of at least 17,000 OFWs in Syria, most of which are undocumented house hold service workers (HSW).
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) earlier said repatriation efforts in the conflict-torn Syria since most of the OFWs in the Middle East country do not have a registered residence, where they are working.

“We have been urging the government even before the upheavals, to work for the legalization, if not repatriation, of undocumented OFWs via diplomatic course of action with the host governments,” Monterona said. “But the PH government, for a long time, had just disregarded the thousands of undocumented OFWs here in the Middle East.”

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PRC SCRAPS MASS OATH-TAKING FOR NURSES

MANILA, Philippines - No more lavish oath-taking ceremony for newly licensed nurses in the country.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has shelved the traditional mass oath-taking for those who passed the licensure examination for nurses.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the PRC decided to scrap the oath-taking for newly licensed nurses as part of the government’s austerity measures.

“Starting with the nursing graduates who successfully passed the July nursing licensure examination, there will be no more mass oath-taking,” Baldoz said.

PRC chairperson Teresita Manzala said the Board of Nursing (BON) issued an official communication withdrawing the request for the usual inspirational and congratulatory messages from top government officials which would have been published in the traditional souvenir program marking the oath-taking of newly registered nurses who hurdled the July 2011 licensure examination.

The BON is the regulatory board for nursing professionals under the PRC.

Manzala said the BON cited the current socio-economic conditions being experienced by Filipino families, especially in the income class where majority of the nurses belong, as main reason for the cancellation of the mass oath-taking.

“While the oath-taking is a requirement of law, the Board (of Nursing) decided to simplify it to save on costs and other expenses relevant to the holding of the traditional mass oath-taking,” she added.

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Jobs, Trainings in Bulacan Await Middle East Repatriates

Beleaguered overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who will be returning home from hostilities in the Middle East will be greeted with a financial aid from the Balik Pinay program and a list of job offers and trainings in Bulacan.

Under the joint program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the displaced OFWs could avail of the starter kit with P10,000 as aid in putting up business.
The financial assistance could increase depending on the business proposal of the OWF and the result of the ensuing interview.

DOLE-Region III Director Leopoldo De Jesus said the OFWs could train under seminars from health care like reflexology, massage, production of bath soap, to household repairs such as plumbing, welding, electrical servicing, and appliance restore.

According to DOLE provincial director Lanie Reynoso, the bulk of business proposals they receive from OFWs were putting up of stores and nego-carts which sell various merchandise.

But during the granting yesterday of the P3 million financial assistance to OFWs in the province who have returned from Libya, the repatriates said they would still like to work abroad to support their families.

With this, Elizabeth Alonzo, chief of the Provincial Youth, Sports, Employment, Arts, Culture and Tourism Office, said that the government would still support them. In particular, they would be protected from illegal recruiters.

Alonzo said the Bulacan government had held talks with the Ministry of Employment in Taiwan to discuss a tie-up program in removing the placement fees for overseas employment.

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OWWA Strengthens Fight Vs Human Trafficking

BY PHILIPPINE INFORMATION AGENCY - With 52,059 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) coming from the Bicol region who are now toiling abroad either to earn a living or simply fulfill a dream to set foot on a foreign land, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is left with a gargantuan task to look after their welfare and ensure their dependents are protected.

This was one of the key points discussed by OWWA OIC regional director Jocelyn Hapal during the discussion on Mainstreaming Migration in Local Development Plans held at the Avenue Plaza Hotel, Magsaysay, Naga City over the weekend.

OWWA, an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is also mandated to ensure that the provisions of RA 10022 or an Act “Amending Republic Act No. 8042 Otherwise Known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995, as amended, further Improving the Standard of Protection and Promotion of the Welfare of Migrant Workers, Their Families and Overseas Filipinos in Distress, and For Other Purposes” are properly implemented.

“Camarines Sur has the highest number of OFWs, totaling to 42 percent of the total OFWs in the region. These are the documented workers who have registered in our office. We should not forget that there are still a lot of our kababayans who left the country without completing their documents,” Hapal added.

Camarines Sur registered a total of 17,903 land based OFWs and 4,101 sea based workers, totaling to 22,004. The province of Albay comes next with 28 percent of the share from the total of 12,094 land-based OFWs and 2, 608 seafarers totaling to 14, 702 contract workers.

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