The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has bared its list of countries where the government will establish new Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (Polos).
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the new Polos will be in Shanghai, China; Berlin, Germany; Wellington, New Zealand; Los Angeles (LA); Osaka, Japan; and in Croatia.
“I would like to inform you the DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] had already agreed to put up these six new Polos,” Bello said in a recent news conference.
In the previous list of the DOLE, Croatia was not included and the new Polo in the United States was supposed in Florida instead of LA.
Bello said they opted to put the Polos in the said countries in anticipation of an increasing number of Filipinos in those countries in the coming years.
Polos are headed by the country’s labor attachés, who handle labor-related affairs of Filipinos abroad.
He explained that while ideally there should be a Polo in every embassy, their numbers and locations are limited by the DFA and the budget approved by the Department of Budget and Management.
The creation of the six additional Polos may be delayed again after Congress failed to pass the 2019 budget this year.
The new Polos were supposed to have been established this year, but were delayed to 2019 due to lack of funding.