The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) brushes off reports that there is a freeze on the hiring of overseas Filipino workers to work in Taiwan.
DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz clarifies that Taiwan only added some documentary requirements for OFW applicants: “Tuloy tuloy ang kanilang processing. Nagdagdag lang ng requirements at humaba-haba ang period (The processing is not interrupted; it’s just that the additional requirements lengthens the processing period), from 7 to 14 days.”
Effective May 15, all visa applicants with work permits are required to submit Philippine government issued Unified Multi-purpose ID, birth certificate from the National Statistics Office as well as National Bureau of Investigation certification, both to be authenticated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines.
Baldoz clarified, however, that DOLE has not yet monitored new work permits approved by Taiwan.
She says the OFW situation in Taiwan is apparently normalizing, as no one has complained about harassment recently.
There were earlier reports of Filipino workers in Taipei being harassed after a Taiwanese fisherman was killed off the coast of Batanes.
She adds that the Taiwanese government has announced it is in need of Filipino workers in the manufacturing sector for multinational export-oriented firms.
“The reason why we seem to have a monopoly in that sector,” Baldoz points out, “is because of our English proficiency, all the brochures are in English.”
Source: solarnews.ph
