Monday, January 05, 2009 Retrenched OFWs in Taiwan to be redeployed soon
DISPLACED overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Taiwan are set for redeployment soon.
Jackson Gan, president of Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (Pilmat), said Taiwanese employers have already provided return tickets and entry visas for some 200 retrenched Filipino workers.
Gan expects these OFWs would leave the country in the next six months in particular those who already "receive return tickets and entry visas before they returned home."
He noted that local agencies have already started the redeployment process for the displaced OFWs.
In a letter to Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Jennifer Manalili, Gan said Pilmat "has been taking several proactive steps to address the effects of the global crisis on the Taiwan labor market."
He said that part of their actions is to encourage displaced OFWs to remain in Taiwan and coordinate with the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) in looking for new employment.
At the same time, the recruitment executive said the Philippine and Taiwanese governments are closely working in addressing the problem on OFWs that were retrenched in Taiwan as a result of the economic meltdown.
So far, about 2,500 workers have returned to the country since the start of the crisis and an additional 5,000 are expected to be laid off by the first quarter of 2009.
Meanwhile, Gan assured the displaced OFWs especially those who returned to the country that Pilmat will be assisting them in securing money claims due to their early termination of their three-year contracts.
He also appealed for workers' patience on their claims since some agencies with a large volume of displaced workers are having difficulty responding to the demands, and the sudden decrease of deployment of workers to Taiwan have affected their business operations. (MSN/Sunnex)
