DOLE to workers: Fret not Trump’s win

Workers assured of PH investment vitality amid worries over Trump’s win

By Samuel Medenilla, Manila Bulletin, November 11, 2016

The Department of Labor and Employment allayed the fears of some Filipino workers that the recent win of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump will lead to mass displacement.

Labor and employment secretary Silvestre Bello III expressed confidence that the country will remain an attractive destination for U.S. investments even during the Trump administration due to the reforms implemented by President Rodrigo Duterte.

He said Duterte’s campaign to maintain peace and order and stamp out corruption has created the conducive climate for businesses to thrive.

“The president has provided all the business establishments, local and foreign, the right climate for the conduct of the business,” Bello told reporters in an interview. “They did not come here to be involved in politics.”

For them as long as the climate is there for the conduct of their business they will stay.”

Bello added that American investors will come and stay here “as long as we continue to provide them with a lower cost, better atmosphere and safer atmosphere.”

DOLE made the assurance amid concerns that Trump’s win will lead to the pullout of U.S. investments in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, now one of the country’s top employment-generating sectors.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) administrator Hans Cacdac, for his part, cautioned about prematurely determining the impact of Trump’s win on the employment prospects of overseas Filipino workers.

“We need to first find out the policies of President Trump by coordinating with our embassy in the U.S., DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), and the U.S. government… It is still to early to speculate,” Cacdac said.

In case Trump’s labor policy affects some OFWs, National Reintegration Center for OFWs director Chona Mantilla said the government is ready to assist them on employment placement and skills training.

“The mechanism is already there and is already being implemented by government agencies,” Mantilla said.