DOLE rules out mass displacement of OFWs amid crisis

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) ruled out anew yesterday the possibility of massive displacement of Filipino workers abroad despite the prevailing global economic crisis.

“There is still no massive displacement of OFWs while the deployment of our Filipino workers for jobs in various destinations overseas remains robust amidst the raging global financial crisis,” Labor Secretary Marianito Roque stressed.

Roque said reports from 34 Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in various destinations abroad with high concentrations of overseas Filipino workers did not indicate massive displacements of OFWs due to the financial crisis.

He said the POLOs have been directed to closely monitor OFW displacements to enable DOLE to provide the necessary assistance to the affected OFWs.

Instead of getting reports of displacements, the POLOs, including those in the Middle East, observed that employment of OFWs remains secure as the financial institutions in countries in the region are “liquid.”

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) also continues to process close to 3,000 OFWs who leave the country for overseas employment on a daily basis, he said.

“The projected over half a million OFWs displacements was based on a worst case scenario which was crafted by DOLE in an effort to prepare appropriate responses to the impact of the financial crisis on OFWs,” Roque said.

According to him, the number of OFWs who lost their jobs overseas and have already come home is not that alarming and only constitute part of an average of 1,000 OFWs who return to the country every month.

Among those returning OFWs were those whose employment contracts abroad had expired.

Roque said OFWs’ employment termination this year, including those adversely affected by the financial crisis, is at the same level as that of 2007.

“While almost 3,000 OFWs are deployed everyday, only about a thousand return home every month, indicating that the trend of OFW retrenchments in the midst of the financial crisis is within the normal level,” he said.

POEA records also showed that OFW deployment reached 1.116 million from January to October 2008. The figure was 25.5 percent higher than the 888,339 OFWs deployed worldwide during the same period in 2007.

“OFW remittances also soared to a record high of $12.3 billion from January to September this year, representing a 17.1 percent growth above the remittance record in the same period last year,” Roque said.

Leaders of the ship manning industry also reported that some cruise ship crew members who were displaced have been placed on other vessels, while others are under process for deployment.

“In fact, the maritime sector is still experiencing shortage of seafarers,” he said.

Earlier, Roque directed the POLOs to monitor labor requirements in emerging and expanding labor markets to find new employment opportunities and re-deploy displaced OFWs in these labor markets.

The DOLE strategy for OFWs also includes the provision of livelihood assistance to those who opt to set up business enterprises, and skills upgrading and scholarships to those who want to embark on a new occupation.

Initially, Roque said that a profiling of displaced OFWs is conducted to determine their skills and the kind of assistance they want to be given them.

Continued exodus to Lebanon

Meanwhile, Filipino domestic helpers continue to sneak into Lebanon despite the existing deployment ban.

Joseph Assad, honorary consul of Lebanon in the Philippines, yesterday reported that the number of undocumented OFWs in Lebanon has reached over 43,000 and is still growing.

Data from the Lebanese Embassy, according to Assad, showed that a total of 43,361 Filipino workers entered Lebanon since the ban was imposed two years ago.

“In year 2006, a total of 5,239 OFWs entered Lebanon while more than 16,000 were recorded in 2007 and almost 22,000 as of August this year,” Assad disclosed.

He said the deployment ban imposed by the Philippine government in 2006 has not prevented Filipino workers, mostly domestic helpers, from going to work in Lebanon.

While the Filipino workers defied the deployment ban, Assad said, the Philippine government should not consider those currently employed in Lebanon as criminals.–Mayen Jaymalin, Philippine Star