By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Samuel P. Medenilla
WITH several infrastructure projects with China now in the pipeline, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has started pressing other government agencies to enforce Philippine laws on allowing aliens to work in the country after some of those deployed in foreign-assisted projects were found without work permits.
The labor department is also studying a new policy mandating the Chinese workers to teach Filipino workers their language as a condition for the issuance of working permits.
The DOLE’s attention had earlier been called to the seeming disparity in data on the small number of Chinese workers registered in online gaming and the scale of the enterprises engaged in what are known as “Pogo,” for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators.
There was concern that the surge in the number of Chinese tourists —nearly nipping at the heels of top tourist market South Korea—actually represents thousands of Pogo workers coming in as tourists, with some analysts estimating the reported number is just a tenth of the actual workers in this line of work.
The DOLE, together with other agencies, will form a special task force to check on the operations of Pogo enterprises, to start operations in December or January at the latest, according to Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) Director Dominique Tutay.
She said the majority of the Chinese with work permits are employed in Pogo.
“We are now drafting the letters to the other government agencies to send their representatives to the task force” on Pogo, Tutay said.
The DOLE official revealed the options being considered after the DOLE’s attention was drawn to the failure of contractors at the Chinese-funded Intramuros-Binondo bridge in Manila to secure work permits for over three dozen Chinese workers.
The private contractor has since started securing the necessary permits for the foreign workers in the project.
The DOLE has said it will give the enough time to the contractor to get the necessary Alien Employment Permit (AEP) for its 36 to 39 Chinese experts working on the project. The DOLE-issued AEP allows foreigners to work in the country for more than three months.
Earlier, the DOLE called the attention of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) after it was reported the Chinese workers have no AEP.
Illegal activities?
According to Tutay, the government will tighten its rules in the issuance of work permit for foreign nationals, including Chinese workers following reports that some of the permits given to foreign nationals were being used for prostitution, pornography and illegal recruitment.
She said the agency’s regional office has already been ordered to check on a construction company allegedly employing a thousand Chinese workers.
“An order has been sent out to check the information we received that about a thousand Chinese nationals are currently employed as construction workers,” Tutay said.
Tutay said the information they received showed that the Chinese nationals are working as welders and performing other jobs that can be done by local workers.
“Obviously, these workers are being hidden because they are fetched from an area and brought to the worksite. They are said to be using Chinese technology that is not approved by our standards so there is also a threat on the safety,” Tutay said.
From January to September 2018, Chinese tourists had arrived in droves, pushing the total foreign arrivals from January to September 2018 to 5.36 million, up 8.32 percent from the same period last year.
Data from the Department of Tourism showed arrivals from China expanded by some 35 percent to 972,550 in the nine-month period this year, accounting for 18.14 percent of the total tourist arrivals market. This puts China firmly in second place in the top source markets for tourists of the country.
Gaming analysts estimate Chinese workers in Pogo at some 300,000, and yet the Department of Labor and Employment has said it issued only 25,000 work permits to Chinese citizens this year. “This can only mean the rest are here on tourist visas,” said one analyst.
With a report from Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
1 comment
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