Canada has 30,000 jobs for Pinoys
By Mayen Jaymalin
Thursday, October 2, 2008

About 30,000 jobs are awaiting skilled Filipino workers in Canada, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said most of the workers needed in Alberta, Canada are professionals for the oil and gas industry as well as construction workers for various infrastructure projects.

Aside from the oil and gas workers, Alberta would also require workers for its food counters such as food attendants, food processors and butchers as well as nurses and care givers.

“Initially 10,000 Filipinos may immediately qualify for this recruitment program, but Alberta said they have a shortage of 30,000 workers for their oil and gas,” Roque disclosed.

Roque and Alberta Ministry of Employment and Immigration chief Hector Goudreau forged an agreement yesterday for the recruitment and deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in one of Canada’s largest provinces.

DOLE previously forged similar agreements with Canadian provinces Manitoba, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, where a combined 30,000 to 40,000 OFWs are needed.

Roque expressed hope that the country would be able to fill Canada’s job orders.

He said a monthly salary of 6,000 Canadian dollars will be provided for highly skilled welders, C$3,800 for the pipe fitters. The salaries are much higher than the monthly pay of welders and pipe fitters in Saudi Arabia.

Aside from the agreement, Roque said, DOLE is also negotiating to set up training for Filipinos to be deployed in Canada.

He said the implementing rules and regulations for the skills upgrade have been drafted and will be reviewed by both parties.

TESDA is likely to implement the upgrade and training skills but it will also be implemented in selected schools that will be identified by the parties.
More OFWs

The number of Filipinos wanting to work abroad will continue to rise because of domestic uncertainties following the global plunge in stocks, according to newly designated Philippine Overseas Employment Administrator (POEA) Jennifer Manalili.

Speaking at the opening of the Baguio City Charter Day Jobs Fair at the Baguio Convention Center, Manalili said some 1.3 million Filipinos want to work abroad next year, surpassing the 1 million POEA yearly deployment target.

In 2007, some 1.2 million Filipinos went abroad for work.

Manalili said this is the time to be on guard against illegal recruitment because unscrupulous individuals will certainly seize the opportunity to deceive people.

“We need to see to the welfare of Filipino job seekers, and involving local government officials up to the barangays is part of the preventive mechanism,” she said.

The POEA administrator urged local government units to inform jobseekers how to detect illegal recruiters.

“There is a need to intensify this campaign,” Manalili said after forging ties with Baguio officials to fight illegal recruitment.

Lawyer Melchor Dizon, POEA Licensing and Regulation Officer, said there had been a decrease in illegal recruitment incidents since last year because of the intensive campaign of government agencies.

“There was a seven-percent decrease of illegal recruitment cases last year and maybe a 10-percent decrease by the end of 2008,” Dizon said.

He added POEA already “processed” some 4,208 cases this year, with Metro Manila still the hotspot of illegal recruitment in the country.

Manalili and Baguio City mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. signed a Memorandum of Understanding in an effort to free Baguio of illegal recruitment in the future.

The Baguio MOU is the 94th MOU forged by the POEA with cities around the country. – With Artemio Dumlao