MANILA, Philippines—While he welcomed the job opportunity for the country’s health workers, Nueva Vizcaya Representative Carlos Padilla warned that the conditions set by the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) on the hiring of Filipino nurses and caregivers could only lead to their exploitation.

Padilla, one of the lawmakers critical of the agreement when it was being drafted, said that the licensure examinations required of the nurses could prove to be difficult since it would be done through Niponggo, the Japanese language.

Under the accord, he said the nurses would not be employed automatically as nurses but as “candidate nurses” or “nursing aides” until they pass the licensure tests.

”They may learn to speak the language easily, but writing it is a different matter,” he told INQUIRER.net a phone interview Thursday.

The first batch of 92 nurses and 188 caregivers are due to leave for Japan Sunday to work in different institutions.

The health workers would be classified as candidate nurses and caregivers until they pass the licensure examination that would elevate them to the status of being full-fledged nurses and caregivers.

The first licensure examination for nurses is scheduled on February 2010 and would be held every year. Candidate caregivers, meanwhile, need at least three-years of work experience before they can take the national certification examination.

Under their contract, the health workers are eligible to work in Japan for three years and may work there continuously if they pass the examination.

Padilla said although the health workers are allowed to stay and work in Japan for three years even without passing the exam, they will receive salaries lower than their Japanese counterparts.

In a sense, he said this is “one way of legitimizing exploitation.”

”It’s an indirect way of exploiting them because we know they would be giving the same service but because they did not pass the exam, they would receive lower salaries. It’s sad because we know they are the most-skilled in the world,” he said.

The congressman called on Philippine officials to always be on watch of the conditions of the Filipino health workers to ensure their welfare is protected.