New Year, New Resolutions

by dave Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:51 pm

New Year, New Resolutions

SULYAPINOY January Issue

The Focused Group Discussion which brought out the problems on the workers under the Employment Permit System (EPS) and among entertainers has given Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) Labor Attach� Atty. Delmer R. Cruz the opportunity to report the disappointing result on the number of passers of the last EPS-Korean Language Test (KLT) held in May of 2007. We are asking why it happened for a lot of applicants are waiting to be included in the roster of jobseekers under the EPS program in Korea.

The Korean Language Test or KLT has been implemented in the Philippines thru the Philippine Overseas and Employment Agency in September 2005. In the year-end report of the agency, Director Nimfa De Guzman of the Gov't. Placement Branch of the POEA told SULYAPINOY that there were a total of 19,807 workers deployed to Korea since the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Labor and Employment of the Philippines and the Ministry of Labor of the Republic of Korea was ratified in 2004.

However, it is unlikely noticeable that the last KLT in the Philippines was held eight months ago. KLT takers and even our officials have queried and presumed that those who were not able to get the passing score will be qualified to work in minor sectors like construction, agriculture, fisheries and livestock. Many Koreans and foreign workers are avoiding such industries for they are quite difficult, have few exemptions from labor rights and even hazardous to health. In effect, the Philippine Embassy has requested an additional of $100 from the Ministry of Labor of Korea as hazard pay for those who would like to take the risk. Unfortunately the request was not granted.

Also, the foreign workers� dean of the Ministry of Korea has noticed the frequent transfer of workplace among Filipino workers and too much assertive on our labor rights by which many Korean employers were discouraged. But we�re just using our labor rights as promulgated by the MOL for our protection. The MOL has the record of the increasing number of physically and even sexually abused workers; records show that there are abusive employers.

For this year, POLO has been vocal about the remaking of the matrix for the EPS workers. It is good to start the New Year with new resolutions for the Filipino migrant workers.

We are optimistic as we look forward for these new resolutions to help improve the working as well as the living conditions of the EPS workers from pre-employment periods most likely in sending workers for minor sectors up to the re-hiring periods which includes benefits and insurances. These resolutions will serve as prevention to all EPS workers from engaging into any types of work-related hazards and eventually may change our misunderstood vulnerable image into highly commendable and very competitive Filipino workers.

by amie sison Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:39 pm

have a nice year for my kababayan....

salamat po kuya sa editorial...

New Year, New Resolutions

New Year, New Resolutions

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