No employment loss for OFWs, only ‘isolated’ cases — Bello

MANILA, Philippines — Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Wednesday said Filipino migrant workers are not losing their jobs amid the global health issue of COVID-19 outbreak, saying some sacked Overseas Filipino Workers are just “isolated cases.”

“We are not losing workers in overseas. Wala naman (No one is getting fired) except for some who requested for repatriation,” Bello said during a press conference about COVID-19 effects on workers.

“May mga isolated cases pero by large walang mga alarming rate of unemployment to our overseas workers (There are isolated cases but by large we don’t have any alarming rate of unemployment to our overseas workers),” he added.

Asked about reports of terminated Filipino workers in Hong Kong, Bello said Filipinos are losing their jobs because their employers are not permanent residents of Hong Kong.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. previously said the government will arrange an immediate repatriation for Filipino workers in Hong Kong, who were dismissed due to arguments over letting them have their day-off outside amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

EDV

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