DAVAO CITY, 20 May 2003 — The hope of the Philippine government to provide jobs for Filipinos in Iraq may not be realized as expected, as Filipinos are reportedly not a priority for hiring by American contractors.
Even the self-proclaimed English language capability of Filipinos is now in doubt.
A newspaper report quoting sources said American construction companies were reported to have expressed disinterest in hiring the services of Filipinos, stemming from legal setbacks that foreign contractors faced with them in the past.
At the height of United States invasion of Iraq, the Philippines was already hoping to give jobs to Filipinos looking for jobs overseas.
Manila even said Filipino Muslims in Mindanao should be given priority. Other local officials in several provinces in the Visayas and Luzon also announced their intention to lobby for overseas opportunities for its citizens.
The government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was hopeful of bagging from 100,000 to as many as 500,000 jobs in healthcare, construction and law enforcement for overseas Filipino workers in post-war Iraq. Malacanang Palace apparently expected Filipinos would be tapped by American reconstruction companies in Iraq as a gesture of thanks for President Arroyo’s full support of the war.
The Philippines will now be lucky enough to get 10,000 jobs in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Middle Eastern State, according to a report in the Daily Tribune yesterday.
“There will be Filipinos who will be hired in Iraq, but indirectly, by prime American construction firms which were awarded a total of $1.7 billion worth of rebuilding contracts in the areas of telecommunications, power and oil production,” said the Tribune quoting a top recruitment agency official.
Accordingly, fourteen US-owned companies had been awarded contracts to rebuild Iraq. However, instead of directly hiring workers, the US firms have made arrangements with some South Korean and Japanese firms that will do the subcontracting of the construction workers.
“We will be very fortunate if the Philippines can deploy at least 10,000 workers for the massive reconstruction contracts that were farmed out. (South) Korean or Japanese construction companies, who then will eventually be subcontracted by the American firms, will hire most of these OFWS. They will not be directly hired by the US companies,” the concerned recruiter said.
The American firms, sources said, happened to be those that were sued in the past by some Filipino workers.
The poor work attitude of Filipinos has also become a negative point against hiring Filipinos. The report said that US companies that recently hired Filipino construction workers to build new prison cells at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, complained that they had a poor command of English.
“Most US companies are wary to hire Filipinos because of the many legal setbacks they suffered in dealing with them. The most recent of which was the $600-million award to Filipino contract workers hired by Brown & Root in 1985. They filed discriminatory lawsuits with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration,” the source said.
Aside from Brown & Root, Filipino workers hired by EEI, a local construction giant that had projects in the Middle East, also slapped another American firm, Bechtel Corp., with a multimillion-dollar case.
“These US companies are hesitant to do business with local recruitment agencies because of the ‘attitude problem’ of our OFWs. They have vowed not to hire Filipino workers,” the source added.
There are reports also that the Philippines sends Filipinos abroad that has difficulty in speaking English. This despite the country’s claim it has a 95 percent literacy rate.
Now, the truth is coming out that there are Filipinos that speak staccato English, according to recruitment agencies, that American and British employers complain about.
The likely fields Filipinos would be employed in the reconstruction of Iraq are information technology, finance, accounting, catering and logistics supply.
