DOLE seeks tripartite efforts to boost global demand for Filipino seafarers

To sustain the country's status as manning capital of the world, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will push for tripartite efforts to immediately address various issues and difficulties confronting the Philippine maritime sector, especially in expanding the sea-based sector as source of overseas employment for Filipinos.

"The DOLE will vigorously support its partners in the Maritime Industry Tripartite Council (MITC) not only in addressing common problems in the maritime sector but also in their target of capturing at least 50 percent of the total global requirements for Filipino seafarers in the next six years," Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said, adding "this is part of efforts to expand the sea-based OFW sector amidst the turmoil in the Middle East which has led to the repatriation of OFWs from Libya."

Baldoz initiated the establishment of the MITC early this year to provide the tripartite partners in the maritime sector a venue where common concerns can be addressed to ensure the country's capability to produce competent seafarers and port workers. Members include the Joint Manning Group (JMG), the umbrella organization of manning agencies.

JMG leaders, in a meeting with POEA Administrator Carlos Cao Jr., said the country's seafaring industry is aggressively targeting to increase global requirements for Filipino seafarers from 30 percent at present to 50 percent until 2016. To achieve this, the industry has invested heavily in putting up world class training modules and facilities for Filipino seafarers to enhance their competitiveness and employability in the international maritime industry.

Baldoz thanked the seafaring industry, saying that the DOLE, through the MITC, is prepared to support the industry's efforts in capturing a larger portion of the international market for seafarers.

Meanwhile, the Associated Marine Officers' and Seamen's Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP), the largest organization of seafarers in the Philippines and the whole world, has joined the DOLE in tripartite efforts for the advancement of the Philippine maritime sector.

Baldoz said the AMOSUP has declared full support to the MITC as means through which stakeholders can address problems in the maritime industry, particularly those affecting Filipino seafarers and port workers.  

Founded 50 years ago by the late Capt. Gregorio Oca, AMOSUP is internationally recognized leader of seafarers' organizations, being the largest union of marine officers and seamen in the world with around 90,000 members.

"The support of AMOSUP to the MITC is an affirmation of tripartism as an effective means of building consensus and collaboration of social partners in mutually beneficial activities that will drive the growth of the maritime industry and promote the welfare, employability, and competitiveness of Filipino seafarers and port workers," Baldoz said.

AMOSUP president Dr. Conrado F. Oca, son of Capt. Oca, who expressed the AMOSUP's appreciation to Baldoz for jumpstarting the establishment of the MITC, also underscored the importance of tripartism in achieving industrial peace, in protecting the rights and promoting the welfare of seafarers and port workers, and in pushing for the ratification of the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) 2006. The latter provides for comprehensive rights and protection at work for the world's more than 1.2 million seafarers.

"The MITC will be venue for the tripartite partners to craft policies and regulations, including a national action plan for the ratification of the MLC 2006," Baldoz said. End/laa

Congress Committee Takes Up Concerns of Recruiters

House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, chaired by Representative Manuel “Waykurat” Zamora, has taken up urgent concerns affecting the overseas recruitment industry.

Responding to the appeal made by Eduardo T. Mahiya, president of the Federated Associations of Manpower Exporters Inc., the committee has been conducting public hearings to look into the shortage of airline flights that hamper the deployment of overseas workers to various countries in the Middle East. The committee is also looking into the complaint of overseas workers against the decking system being practiced by the Gulf Cooperation Council-Approved Medical Clinic Association, which in turn delays the medical examination of overseas workers and makes it costly.

“The committee has acted swiftly on all concerns such as passport problem, birth certificate, booking problem and NBI clearance. Present at the hearings are representative of various government offices concerned regarding the matter. In the said hearing, the Civic aeronautic Board and Philippine Airlines, were tasked to address the shortage of airline flights for which a commitment was made by PAL to provide daily bookings for 500 departing workers”, Mahiya said.

“On the other hand, Representative Magtanggol Gunigundo, chairman of the House Committee on Labor and Employment, and concurrent vice chairman of the committee, has directed the representatives of GAMCA to do away with the decking system and come out with another one that will be convenient and less costly to the workers’ Mahiya further said.

The federation has also attended the recent two meetings conducted by the technical working group of the committee which is deliberating on the proposed amendments to the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 (RA 8042) for the purpose of enhancing the protection of overseas Filipino workers.

A position paper was submitted by the Federation with respect to the proposed revision of several sections of the law. The position paper considers the interests of industry stakeholders while respectful of the welfare of overseas workers.

“The committee will soon continue with the public hearings to complete the inquiry on the GAMCA issue and take up new concerns that we recently brought to its attention. I am referring to the mandatory psychiatric testing proposed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the policy for a “unified contract” that the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia is set to implement come September 1, both of which the Federation already strongly objected to”, Mahiya said.

Mahiya explained that the unified contract will be detrimental to the industry as it requires the deploying Philippine agency to have an agreement with a Saudi agent before it is allowed to apply for visas of Filipino overseas workers. The policy will serve as a stumbling block to the entry of Filipino workers to Saudi Arabia.

On the other hand, the psychiatric test will drive further the household workers to the arms of illegal recruiters and depart as undocumented workers to avoid the new requirement.

“Thousands of household workers have left the country as undocumented workers and hundreds of them continue to leave daily because they refuse to subject themselves to the requirements of a policy mindlessly imposed two years ago. And here come the Department of Foreign Affairs with a new restrictive requirement which will only force them to become illegal workers”, Mahiya pointed out.

DOLE, PMAP Join Hands to Speed up Industry’s Search for Skills

Department of Labor and Employment has entered into an agreement with a premier organization of human resource management executives and the network of Public Employment Services Offices nationwide to improve the industry’s search for skills and speed up the employment of workers.

Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque said Enrique Abadesco Jr., president of People Management Association of the Philippines, and Aurora Zaportiza, chair and president of the National Federation of PESOs in the Philippines signed a memorandum of agreement for the three parties’ cooperation in the delivery of career counseling and employment facilitation services to workers.

Under the agreement, Roque said that the PMAP, PESOPHIL, and the DOLE would share resources and expertise geared towards improving career counseling and employment facilitation services in the country.

DOLE hailed PMAP’s participation in the MOA saying it underscores the need of government and the private sector to collaborate and support each other in promoting the employment of Filipino workers.

He said that PMAP would specifically subscribe and promote the extensive use of the Phil-JobNet among its members. PMAP consists of over 1,800 member companies and individual management executives and 19 chapters throughout the Philippines engaged in human resource management and industrial relations.

Phil-Jobnet, on the other hand, is a free online job and skills search engine where employers can post their vacancies. Jobseekers can also search for latest job listings and register for employers seeking workers with appropriate skills.

Roque said that aside from providing easier and efficient access to quality labor market information, the Phil-JobNet would also speed up the PMAP members’ search for qualified workers and, thus, minimize cost they usually incur in their search for skills.

He said PMAP’s willingness to utilize the Phil-JobNet would boost efforts to facilitate skills and job matching and more significantly the workers’ search for quality employment among PMAP members.

At the same time, PMAP would provide managerial and technical training to PESOPHIL members to enhance their skills on providing career counseling and employment facilitation services free of charge.

Meanwhile, the DOLE would make accessible the Phil-JobNet services to all PMAP members and train PMAP staff on its operation free of charge.

To meet the labor market needs of PMAP, PESOPHIL would also provide PMAP members access to available labor market information data and assistance related to HRD in their locality.

Labor Market Information Kiosk Launched

In a bid to further strengthen its market capability building, the Department of Labor and Employment, through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has launched its Labor Market Information Kiosk, a Web page-based facility that would integrate all relevant and available overseas labor market information.

Labor Secretary Marianito D. Roque said the LMIK project is among the various initiatives of the POEA which the International Organization for Migration and the European Union have supported in the area of marketing capability building.

Roque said that the facility would help workers, as well as stakeholders, in their search for up to date and relevant inputs in the area of labor market trends and developments. He said that the LMIK project is the government’s response to the overseas employment industry’s clamor for an easy access to current data and statistics on overseas labor market.

POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz said that given the POEA’s mission to “connect to the world” and facilitate the generation and preservation of decent jobs for Filipino migrant workers, “the LMIK project is a very relevant undertaking that will provide timely labor market information on overseas labor market opportunities, labor and immigration policies, working conditions overseas, among others, and which will guide the private sector in their marketing efforts and help workers make better decisions on whether to embark on overseas employment or not.”

She said the LMIK serves as the marketing web page in the POEA’s website that would integrate the current marketing information which will include country profiles, bilateral agreements, salary rates, labor market situationer, news feeds, demand and supply situationer, frequently asked questions and many others.

Baldoz said the LMIK will be very useful to policy makers, the recruitment industry, employers and workers, market specialists and staff, researchers and the general public, adding that the POEA’s market specialists and staff would also be sharing useful information under their local area network and the agency would welcome contributions and feedback from members of the industry which would benefit all.

For his part, Ricardo Casco, IOM Labor Migration Specialist, who represented IOM Manila Representative Charles Harns in the launching event, expressed his appreciation for the mutually nurtured partnership with the POEA through all these years.

Workers Warned Against Accepting Job Offers Through the Internet

The Department of Labor and Employment warned Filipino workers against accepting job offers locally or overseas from any individual or agency through the Internet without checking the legitimacy of the job offers with concerned authorities.

Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque issued the warning in view of a South African couple who were duped by unscrupulous individuals offering non-existent jobs in the Philippines through the Internet.

Citing a report from the DOLE office in Region 7 (Cebu), Roque said that the South Africans, Errol Froman and his wife, were promised jobs as managers for a beach resort by certain Franz Baumann and Alan Gonzaga whom they met through the Internet.

The resort named Sunset Garden and Dive Resort was purportedly located in Bry. Libaong, Panglao Island in Bohol.

DOLE Chief disclosed that Froman communicated with the Philippine Embassy in South Africa to inquire about the job offer only after sending money to Baumann and Gonzaga.

He said that after successive exchange of e-mails, the Fromans sent US$350 to Baumann and Gonzaga as payments for their supposed work permits along with their scanned passports and birth certificates. Afterwards, the couple no longer heard from the two nor received any correspondence relative to the status of their supposed employment and arrival to the Philippines.

Upon advice of Filipino officials in Pretoria, the DOLE-Region 7 looked into their records and found that no Alien Employment Permit has been issued to Franz Baumann. Further investigations also indicated that Panglao didn’t have residents by the name of Franz Baumann and Alan Gonzaga.

The DOLE regional office also has no records of an establishment named Sunset Garden and Dive Resort in Bgy. Libaong. Nevertheless, the regional staff still checked on the said barangay and found that no such resort exists in the area.

It is obvious that the South African couple have been victimized by an Internet scam, Roque said as he urged the workers to very first with the DOLE, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Philippine Embassies overseas any offer of employment they may receive through the Internet whether locally or in other countries.

He said the names of Baumann and Gonzaga could be fictitious and only created by an Internet scammer who could be the same person who victimized a certain Madeliene Oberhoster of Pretoria, South Africa using similar representations and modus operandi.

Workers should be wary against individuals and agencies asking money allegedly for requirements that applicants should meet in connection with job offers. Roque said adding that these offers are most likely non-existent and only being dangled by Internet scammers trying to extract money from unsuspecting and vulnerable jobseekers on the Net.