208 skilled hands train for Hanjin Subic shipbuilding

SOME 208 Boholano skilled workers, the biggest delegation of local hands pooled by the Bohol Employment and Placement Office (BEPO) leaves for Subic as an the opening salvo of another glorious year for local employment here, reports BEPO's Ma. Vilma Yorong.

The skilled workers, mostly electricians, welders and machine operators head for Subic to train and perhaps be hired to man Hanjin's multi-billion peso shipbuilding facility, the BEPO official said over the weekly Kapihan sa PIA, Thursday.

BEPO, which facilitates local employment by coordinating with manning and crewing agencies has been into a flurry of activities to hit the government target of easing out unemployment by matching local skills with the demands both local and overseas.

It also monitors the employment trends here to keep track of the province's still unutilized labor force.

Aside from BEPO, the local Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and its Public Employment Service Officers in the towns have also been into jobs placement coordination with employment agencies and hiring companies, Terry Salas of the local DOLE added.

As this developed, employment here rose.8 points to 92.6% from a slightly lower figure in 2007, official records from the local DOLE state.

That however could be lower, agree both BEPO and DOLE agree.

Both Yorong, the assistant Public employment service manager and Salas, DOLE labor and employment officer bared that the figures may be lower compared to that if all the PESOs in the towns could have religiously reported their employment statistics.

Also, both Salas, who sat for DOLE Bohol manager Wilson Cenas, and Yorong, shared the positive employment prospects for Boholanos as the year opens.

Pointing to a feat, BEPO has deployed 173 local workers abroad, way above the 1-3 workers deployed monthly as a "good" indicator by the government labor agency.

Majority of those deployed were into domestic work and into the medical fields, Yorong reports.
Also with the brighter employment prospects in 2008, both authorities warned Boholanos seeking employment to be very vigilant about the scrupulous agencies conducting illegal activities, especially those without the DOLE special recruitment authority.

These people deal illegally and no way will the government be able to go after them, unless they be caught red-handed, authorities warned.

Most problems with illegal recruiters is that they demand money without assurance of work, contract amounts higher than the one's received by the worker and jobs not according to the contract. Several illegally contracted workers end up either abused or get at the losing end of the deal.

The lure of better pay abroad has always been top reason for workers aiming abroad, despite the fact that the value of the dollar has shrunk compared to the peso, authorities also agree.

The dollar they send home do not anymore enjoy the high value and so much is lost in their remittances.

Meanwhile, to arrest the situation, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed the DOLE to review contracts of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to ensure that their remittances protection from fluctuations in the peso-dollar rate.

In Switzerlad, the President said wages of OFWs should be paid by foreign employers in dollars or pesos, whichever is stronger, to protect Filipino workers from monetary fluctuations.

The President said the contracts between foreign employers and Filipino workers should stipulate that they will be paid in pesos or dollars, whichever is stronger.

The President's directive is also one of the facilities under the government's hedging program that include the OFW bond which she is to unveil soon. (by Rey Anthony Chiu - PIA)