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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
THE government’s new policy on domestic helpers (DHs) bound for
overseas work will mean a 40-percent drop in yearly deployment, the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) admitted on Wednesday.
In the long run, however, the new
requirements would bring in more benefits for overseas Filipino
workers (OFWs) in the domestic sector, Labor and Employment
Undersecretary Danilo Cruz said.
“It is true that there will be
a decline in our yearly deployment. It will drop by around 40
percent but it could easily be compensated by new markets that need
skilled and professional workers,” Cruz said at a press
conference.
New requirements
The official was reacting to
warnings by recruitment agencies and their foreign counterparts that
the Philippines could be pricing its workers out of the domestic job
market.
The Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration’s (POEA) governing board recently
increased the minimum salary of departing DHs to $400.
It also raised the minimum age
requirement to 25 years old, prohibited the collection of placement
fee and required a prequalification certificate.
The new policy took effect on
December 16, 2006.
Cruz said recruitment agencies in
the country were amenable to scrapping placement fees but strongly
opposed the $400 minimum salary and the 25 years old age
requirement.
Last year the country sent
1,083,568 documented overseas Filipino workers to more than 190 host
destinations. Of these, close to 300,000 were domestic helpers.
Markets open
Cruz noted that some countries
were already hitting the $400 salary mark even before the POEA
drafted its new policies. He cited Hong Kong, Taiwan, Spain, Israel
and several European countries.
New labor markets have also
opened in Canada, Libya, Spain and Taiwan, while Australia and New
Zealand were on the pipeline, he added.
Rene Cristobal, president of a
manpower association, said foreign recruiters, not the employers,
were the source of protests.
“It means less profit” for
foreign recruitment firms, he noted.
POEA Chairman Rosalinda Baldoz
said the new policy would allow Filipino domestic helpers to upgrade
their skills and eventually graduate from their grueling 24/7 work
week.
The additional skills required by
the POEA, she added, could help domestic helpers gain employment in
hotels and restaurants as housekeepers, or in department stores.
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