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Monday, July 31, 2006
212 more Pinoy workers from Lebanon return
MANILA -- A total of 212 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), comprising the 13th to 18th batches of returnees from the war-torn Lebanon, arrived on Saturday via commercial flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
Government is preparing for the biggest batch of 450 repatriates to be flown to the country on Tuesday through the efforts of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The 13th batch of 80 OFWs arrived at 2:15 p.m. Saturday on board Qatar Airways flight QR646 from Damascus, Syria via Doha.
They were welcomed by Executive Director Mariano Dumia of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Consolacion Marquez, head of the repatriation division of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa).
Among the repatriated Filipinos was six-year-old Sean Leonard Ayo, who was born in Lebanon. His parents, both Filipinos, will follow him to the Philippines in the succeeding batch of returnees.
Fifteen Filipino workers composing the 14th batch arrived four hours later onboard PR731 from Hong Kong, while the 15th batch of 45 OFWs landed at the Naia at 6:30 p.m. aboard Cathay Pacific flight CX 903, also via Hong Kong.
The 16th batch of 22 returnees arrived at the Naia-Terminal 2 at 7:30 p.m. aboard PR 337, while the 17th batch of 35 OFWs landed onboard PR 307 at 8 p.m.
The 18th and last batch of 15 OFWs was scheduled to arrive at 8:45 p.m. on Sunday aboard PR 866.
DFA Spokesman Gilberto Asuque said the 19th batch of 450 Filipino migrants is expected to arrive in Manila on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. aboard Orient Thai Airways flight OEA 7444 from Bangkok, Thailand.
The next group is another 450 OFWs who would return to the country on Friday onboard OEA 7447 at 1:30 p.m., while on Sunday, the 21st batch of 450 Filipino workers will arrive aboard OEA 748 at 8:30 a.m.
"All flights are IOM funded and will be welcomed at the Villamor Airbase Operation Center. By the 21st batch, we should have a total of 2508 returnees," Asuque said.
The number is still relatively small compared to the more than 30,000 Filipinos registered in Lebanon, but the DFA said that they are leaving the decision to OFWs in the conflict-stricken nation whether or not to leave their posts.
The agency said that OFWs, mostly women working as domestic helpers, are at the best position to discern if they would be better off staying in their place of work or to join other repatriates who are at designated relocation sites in Beirut.
The government is spending for the food, shelter and bus ride out of the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church, the largest evacuation site in Beirut, to Damascus. The IOM has agreed to shoulder the airfares of the repatriated Filipino workers.
Meanwhile, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) said it would provide the returning OFWs necessary skills training to help improve their employment status here and abroad and eventually ensure better pay.
Tesda secretary general Augsuto Boboy Syjuco said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is committed to bring home Filipinos from the war-torn country, assuring that they would be able to get either a livelihood assistance, a job or both even if all 30,000 OFWs in Lebanon return.
Syjuco said the Tesda would provide the repatriated Filipino workers loans of up to P20,000 to start their planned businesses, as well as skills training for them to help improve their employment chances especially if they intend to resume working abroad.
He said the most in demand now, both locally and abroad, are skilled-workers particularly in the aspects of welding, automotive, and electronics.
According to him, the Philippines is preparing to send 500 butchers to Australia "as immigrants, not as workers", while Alberta in Canada is asking for at least 30,000 Filipinos who could work in their oil-production program.
Syjuco said Canada is also looking for chambermaids, cooks and welders "by the thousands" while Korea particularly Hanjin Company is looking for 5,000 to 7,000 "jimaos" or welders with a "third-level skill." He said at present, trained Filipino welders have only reached the "second-level" skills training and they are planning to provide and improve the skills training in this field.
He said even the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has sought the Philippines' assistance in hiring 15,000 personnel to serve as "trainers" after the King allowed their women to get skills training to prepare them for possible jobs or even their businesses.
"Actually, Saudi wants 30,000 Filipino trainers but we only committed 15,000 which would be deployed in the course of seven years. So roughly around 2,000-2,500 would be sent yearly," he said.
He said they have started to train the "trainers," which would be deployed in two years time. The trainers are expected to teach the women of Saudi Arabia sewing, jewelry making, welding and automotive, among others.
Syjuco said the population of Saudi Arabia is around 20 million and only an estimated 250,000 of them are working as "they are rich and prefer to hire people to do the work." He said at least 1.2 million of OFWs are now in Saudi Arabia.
"I understand that several other Middle East countries according to Labor Secretary Arturo Brion have made arrangement with President Arroyo to import human resources to us," he said, adding that there would be more demands for skilled-workers in the future.
He clarified that the government is not encouraging Filipinos to work abroad as there are more employment opportunities in the country but it is just that "the most attractive for us are jobs next door." He said the government just wanted to improve chances of OFWs in terms of employment and even salaries and benefits.
Brion announced earlier that they are thinking of requiring OFWs, particularly those applying to work as domestic helpers, to undergo courses on language and culture that would help orient them to the country that they intend to work in.
He said without the training certificates that would be signed by the Tesda and the Owwa, the Filipino domestic helpers would not be able to leave. He said the move aims to minimize departure of inexperienced, ill-trained and undocumented workers who are usually the ones abused by their recruiters and employers.
Syjuco said the government is ready to provide scholarships like the P5,000 training for work scholarship for the skills training of those who are interested to take technical-vocational (Tech-Voc) courses whether they are OFWs, new high school graduates, out of school youth or adults.
He said that while a Tech-Voc training could already ensure employment, it could also allow the students to eventually earn a degree if they wish to pursue a college program later on, referring to the Tesda's ladderized education.
The ladderized education program aims to jumpstart one's education at the Tech-Voc level to earn college credits and rise to a job platform that would enable one to earn and save money for college tuition. It would also allow one to get the needed work experience to get immediate employment after college.
"After the Tech-Voc part of your education, you go to college for units you still lack to earn your college diploma. You will be pleasantly surprise to discover that after your Tech-Voc courses, much less college units are left to qualify you for college graduation," Syjuco said.
"By the time you graduate, your accumulated work experience gives you valuable competitive advantage over those who completed their degrees within the traditional, uninterrupted span of four years," he told OFWs who are interested to avail of the program.
The ladderized program at present covers disciplines on hotel and restaurant management, agriculture, education, engineering, criminology, information and communication technology, maritime, criminology, and health which includes nursing, care-giving and medical transcriptionist.
Syjuco said more programs would be added in due time. He said the program is now available in 79 Tesda and Commission on Higher Education (Ched)-recognized institutions and 186 more similar schools are now being processed. (ECV/JMR/Sunnex)
(July 31, 2006 issue)
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