Sunday, November 12, 2006
Taiwan rejects RP’s plea to resume processing of visas for Pinoy workers
PHILIPPINE Government officials failed to convince the Taiwan Council on Labor Affairs (CLA) to lift the suspension it imposed on the processing of working visas of Filipino laborers.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion and Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), who arrived recently from the Taipei, were unable to persuade Taiwan officials to allow the processing of visas for Taiwan-bound Filipino workers that were supposed to leave since last month.
Labor officials said the meeting between Brion and the heads of the CLA was “unsuccessful” since the host government refused to yield to the request of Philippine labor officials.
But a labor industry source claimed that the discovery of falsified identification documents submitted by the applicants was not the real reason why Taiwan refused to proceed with the processing of the visas of the Filipino workers. “There’s a deeper reason for that, it’s a diplomatic reason,” the source added.
The source said it was Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian who ordered the CLA not to give the Philippines its labor quota for 2007 because of an incident that took place last September. Chen, who was on his way to Palau two months ago, reportedly requested the Philippines to allow his aircraft to land at the Davao International Airport for refueling, which the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) refused to grant and this angered Chen.
Jackson Gan, president of the Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (Pilmat), earlier reported that the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (Teco) did not give the Philippines any quota for 2007 due to rampant fake documents.
Since Oct. 1, 2006, about 1,000 Filipino workers have not been deployed after their visas were not processed anymore.
The Taiwan government has excluded Filipinos in 2007 in its announcement of 80,000 workers to be imported to Taiwan from different countries traditionally deploying migrant workers to thousands of industries in that country, Gan said.
The Philippines used to deploy an estimated 35,000 Filipino workers annually to Taiwan.
According to Gan, Teco requested the POEA to issue “show cause orders” to more that 50 licensed agencies deploying to Taiwan why it should not be suspended for allegedly submitting falsified documents for visa approval.
Gan believes that “the warming of ties between the Philippines and Beijing, the growing economic and trades relations and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s recent visit to China are factors that Taiwan is using to retaliate against the Philippines with Filipino workers as the victims in this case.(MSN/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (November 12, 2006 issue)
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