‘No displacement of Filipino workers in Dubai’

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday ruled out the possibility of mass displacement of Filipino workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) despite the prevailing Dubai debt crisis.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the debt crisis is expected to have no or very minimal effect on the current employment of an estimated 250,000 Filipino workers in Dubai.

“We have been closely monitoring the situation, but as of now we have not received any reports of displacement of Filipino workers from our Labor office in Dubai,” Roque said in an interview.

He added that the debt crisis is also not expected to have massive impact similar to the effects of the global financial crisis that has resulted in the retrenchment of Filipino workers in various countries.

“During the financial crisis, they projected a drop in deployment of Filipino workers and remittances from abroad but I have proven them wrong,” Roque pointed out.

Despite the global financial crisis, Roque maintained that the Philippines continues to record growth in the number of workers deployed abroad as well as remittance from OFWs.

But he gave assurances that the government has already put in place a contingency plan in case some Filipino workers would be laid off because of the debt crisis in Dubai.

“We are already talking to various employers and our labor offices in the Middle East have been alerted to search for possible employment for OFWs likely to be displaced,” he said.

Roque said that those who would be displaced in Dubai can be employed in seven other cities in UAE and nearby countries in the Middle East. –-Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star) with Marvin Sy