Solon wants PH, Taiwan to make up for OFWs’ sake

Overseas Filipino Workers. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—A party-list representative on Saturday called for the resumption of relations between the Philippines and Taiwan for the sake of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and others still hoping to find jobs in the island nation.

OFW Family Club party-list Rep. Roy Señeres, a former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, urged the Philippine government to take steps to restore political and economic relations with Taiwan.

“This is for the sake of the 80,000 Filipinos in Taiwan and the thousands more who have been [affected] by the hiring freeze by the Taiwan government since May 15,” said Señeres in a statement.

He said the Philippines could not afford to lose the Taiwan market due to the dilly-dallying in resolving the crisis between the two otherwise-friendly nations over the May 9 shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine Coast Guard personnel in northern Philippine waters.

“Unfortunately, the OFWs have to feel the brunt of the pressure placed on the Philippines by Taiwan despite the fact that they have nothing to do with the dispute in the first place,” Señeres said.

He said more and more Filipino workers, mostly women, were returning home from their three-year contracts after failing to get permit renewals that would have allowed them to be rehired by their Taiwanese employers.

To date, Señeres said, there were 6,000 Filipinos workers who had been accepted for employment in Taiwan but who failed to leave after the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs stopped processing their visas.

He also said many job orders destined for Filipino workers had been given to labor market competitors like the Vietnamese and Indonesians.

“By July, there will be around 10,000 Filipinos who will not able to join the labor force in Taiwan,” Señeres said.

He said that on average an OFW in Taiwan sent home P20,000 each month.

“That translates to P2.4 billion a year in lost remittances and 10,000 more added to the number of unemployed Filipinos,” he said, adding that Taiwan OFWs earned almost $500 million each year and remitted more than $300 million to their families in the Philippines.