THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will forge a new bilateral labor agreement (BLA) with Russia early next year to safeguard the welfare of skilled overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said he will travel to Russia on March or April in 2019 to finalize the pending Philippines-Russia memorandum of agreement (MOA) on human resource development.
The projected of the MOA is Moscow and was confirmed by Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Bernard B. Olalia.
“The draft of the BLA is already with the DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs]…it looks like they [have] already submitted [the draft MOA] to the Russian ambassador and we are now just waiting [for their response],” Olalia told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
Bello said the BLA was initiated by the Russian government, amid its increasing manpower needs due to its ageing population.
Annual deployment of OFWs in Russia since 2008 remained relatively small ranging only between 910 to 1,951 compared to other countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has a regular annual deployment of over 400,000.
Still, the POEA noted, the deployment of OFWs in the largest country in the world has been increasing at an average of 9.14 percent per annum in the last nine years.
Most of the OFWs in Russia works as TIG welders; masseurs; pipefitters; welders; insulators; crew piping leaders; cleaners; riggers; chambermaids; and instrument technicians.
Their salaries range from $500 to $2,000 per month.
The DOLE is eyeing Russia—together with China, Israel, Germany and Japan—as an alternative destination for displaced OFWs in the Middle East, as well as aspiring OFWs.