RP, Taiwan agree to extend special hiring agreement

The Philippines and Taiwan have extended the existing memorandum of understanding on the Special Hiring Program for Taiwan (SHPT), the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) said.

Philippine and Taiwan labor officials agreed to extend the four-year memorandum that is due to expire on March 30 next year, if no new agreement is approved and signed by Taipei and Manila before this date, during the Fourth Joint Labor Council Conference between the two nations held on August 14 in Taipei.

“Taiwan and Philippine labor authorities remain committed to a special hiring program that will substantially reduce the financial burden of Filipinos eyeing job placements in Taiwan,” Antonio Basilio, MECO resident representative and managing director, said in a statement.

“Both sides also vowed during the conference to promote SHPT as a less costly mode of deploying Filipino workers in Taiwan by expanding the agreement’s coverage to include first-time hires,” Basilio added.

MECO said “special hiring,” also known as “direct hiring” and “name hiring,” does away with labor brokers and recruiters in either country as some brokers reportedly collect expensive placement fees from Filipino job applicants.

MECO said the initial memorandum on the program was signed by the Philippines and Taiwan in March 2003, which was valid for two years. But the agency said direct hiring of Filipinos for employment in Taiwan actually began on an experimental basis in 1994 through a memorandum of agreement signed by MECO, the Department of Labor and Employment and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

MECO said direct hires employed in Taiwan from 1995 to 2008 have already reached 5,884, of which most are caretakers, domestic workers, factory workers and nursing aides.– Ben Arnold O. de Vera, Manila Times