Displaced OFWs returning to Taiwan soon

Good news for displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Taiwan.

Local recruitment industry reported yesterday that hundreds of factory workers who were retrenched due to the economic crisis are going back soon to work in Taiwan.

Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (PILMAT) president Jackson Gan said Taiwanese employers have already provided return tickets and entry visas for some 200 retrenched Filipino workers.

“Those who received return tickets and entry visas before they returned home are expected to fly back to Taiwan within the next six months,” he said.

Gan said local agencies have already started the redeployment process for the displaced OFWs.

“We have been taking several proactive steps to address the effects of the global crisis on the Taiwan labor market,” he added.

According to Gan, local agencies are encouraging displaced OFWs to remain in Taiwan and coordinate with the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in looking for new employment.

“They can find new jobs at less cost if they will stay there instead of immediately going back home,” he said, adding that the Philippines and Taiwan government are closely working in countering the impact of the global economic crisis.

Around 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.

For those who have returned home, Gan said, PILMAT will assist them in securing money claims due to the early termination of their three-year contracts.

“Workers just have to be patient because Taiwanese employers cannot immediately meet their demands due to the huge number of those who were retrenched,” he said.

Qatar OFWs coming home

Meanwhile, Vice President Noli de Castro yesterday said the seven Filipino welders in Qatar who had filed labor complaints against their employer have already been paid their back wages.

De Castro, presidential adviser on OFWs, also said that Filipino welders Willy Catian, Arnold Magdula, Joselito San Jose, Ferdinand Calimag, Joselito Manalac, Rowel Tipon and Rizal Rosales will be given one-way air tickets to the Philippines by Jan. 8 or 9.

He said the Qatar Arbitration Department had sided with the Filipino welders. – Mayen Jaymalin with Jose Rodel Clapano, Philippine Star