Filipinos working in EU countries treated well, says Labor chief

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III stresses the positive EU contribution to the living and working conditions of overseas Filipino workers during a dinner he has hosted for the EU and EU MS Ambassadors last 17 February 2017. RELEASED PHOTO

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has stressed the positive feedback he had received from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) regarding the conditions of the more than 800,000 Filipinos who are working and living in European Union countries. 

The labor chief shared this during a dinner meeting he hosted recently for EU ambassadors, who were pleased to hear about the positive feedback from Filipinos who live in Europe.

Filipinos in Europe contribute to the EU and the Philippine economies and are usually well received and treated in accordance with the EU’s standards on labor and social conditions, according to Bello.

Bello and the EU ambassadors discussed about the EU-Philippines relations, domestic developments in the Philippines, with a focus on labor rights policy, human rights and the CPP-NPA-NDF peace process. Issues related to implementation of the death penalty affecting Filipinos abroad were also discussed. 

Bello also stressed President Rodrigo Duterte’s continuing commitment to peace in the country, in spite of recent setbacks in the CPP-NPA-NDF peace process.

Among those present in the meeting were European Union Ambassador Franz Jessen, Danish Ambassador Jan Top Christensen, French Ambassador Thierry Mathou, Italian Ambassador Massimo Roscigno and Swedish Ambassador Harald Fries.