MANILA, 27 June — Officials hope Filipino domestic helpers bound for the Kingdom will be better equipped to handle their working conditions under a training program being developed by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
New TESDA chief Dante Liban was instructed by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas to develop a program mirroring the government's thrust to "heighten the competitiveness and employability" of Filipino workers.
The instruction is contained in Department Order (DO) No. 24-02 issued by Sto. Tomas to equip household workers with the necessary competencies and information prior to their employment in the Kingdom.
TESDA will issue the implementing rules for the training, assessment and certification of Saudi-bound domestic helpers.
This certificate of competency of household workers will then become a requirement for contract processing at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
The program to be designed by TESDA will be suited to Saudi requirements, with the training cost to be borne not by the workers themselves but by their prospective employers in the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, the POEA said the global deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) has reached 533,318 as of July 21, 2002, surpassing the 500,000 level.
POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz said the deployment of OFWs reached 2,640 daily from Jan. 1 to July 21, exceeding by 4.1 percent the 2,536 daily deployment registered during the same period last year.
In an earlier report, the POEA indicated that the growth in most OFW destinations balances the decline of those bound for Hong Kong, which nevertheless remains the second top destination of OFWs.
Country-by-country statistics from the POEA showed that as of May this year, the number of newly hired and rehired OFWs rose in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and in major host countries in the Middle East.
Deployment grew the highest in the United Kingdom (+48.6 percent), Kuwait (+31.3 percent), the United Arab Emirates (+16.8 percent), Japan (+9.2 percent), Singapore (+8.9 percent), Taiwan (+3.9 percent) and Saudi Arabia (+0.3 percent).
However, OFW deployment for the first five months decreased in three top destinations Brunei (-8.4 percent), Hong Kong (-6.5 percent) and Italy (-1.3 percent).
Citing figure from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Baldoz said OFW remittances continued to push the economy upwards when they rose by 38.1 percent in the first quarter of 2002.
As of March 2002, remittances moved closer to the $2 billion level, increasing to $1.963 billion from the $1.422 billion recorded in the same period in 2001.
Land-based OFW remittances rose by 39.7 percent to $1.680 billion over last year's $1.203 billion, while those of seafarers went up 29.6 percent to $283.7 million over $218.9 million.
