Arroyo aid to Filipino workers hit by recession

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said that she has directed Filipino labour officials to simplify the procedure for helping displaced Filipino workers to enable them to easily get a fresh start and recover from the effects of the global economic slump.

Speaking before Filipino community leaders at the Fairmont Hotel in Dubai, Arroyo said she has instructed Secretary of the Department of Labour Marianito Roque to make the reintegration of Filipino workers “hassle-free'' by relaxing certain rules such as the showing of proof that a worker returning to the Philippines after losing his/her job was able to register with the Philippine mission in his/her country of origin.

“I think it's sufficient for a worker to just present his passport to the Department of Labour and if it shows that he has stayed abroad for a long time that means he has worked there. Let's make this hassle-free for the workers,'' Arroyo said.

An earlier advisory by the Philippine Department of Labour and Employment called on displaced overseas workers to register with the Philippine Overseas Labour Offices (Polo) set up in areas with a maximum concentration of working Filipino expatriates to enable the Philippine government to monitor the actual effect wrought by the global economic crunch.

Workers who wish to avail of assistance programmes from the Philippine Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) were required to present a registration certificate from the Polo.

Arroyo also called on Filipinos in the UAE to help one another especially those who are in distress.

“If you know somebody who lost his job and has gone home, but failed to register, please go to the Polo and register them on their behalf,'' she said.

The Philippine government has a reintegration programme for displaced workers which include soft loans for start-up entrepreneurial ventures, skills and livelihood development training, scholarships for workers' dependents as well as grants to enable a returning worker to continue with his studies.

Arroyo's two-day official visit is her second in Dubai in 14 months. The Philippine leader will be winding up her visit today with a news conference in the morning and a courtesy call to President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi in the afternoon.

Arroyo's trip to the UAE was moved forward after she was forced to cut short her trip to Thailand due to anti-government protests. Protesters stormed the hotel in Pattaya where leaders of Asian nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were meeting last Saturday. She is expected to return to Manila on an early morning Tuesday flight from Abu Dhabi to enable her to attend the burial of Press Undersecretary Jose Capadocia, one of her close aides who died in a helicopter crash in northern Philippines last Tuesday.