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Hiring of foreign workers in Guam to start late 2011 – POEA



The recruitment and deployment of foreign workers, including Filipinos, for the construction of US Navy facilities in the island of Guam will begin during the last quarter of 2011 and not earlier as previously reported, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). 



In a statement, the POEA said prospective overseas Filipino workers will have to wait another year for the project’s construction phase to commence.



The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) earlier reported that the construction project – a naval hospital worth US$700 million – is set to be awarded by the end of September this year, and the construction will begin by the first quarter of 2011. 



According to the POEA statement, the project’s design phase will start during the first half of the 2011 as many of the construction projects are of build-and-design type, and construction activity in the island will begin during the second half. 



The statement said initial bids and requests for proposal had been published and would be completed by the end of November 2010.



“The military buildup will need at least 10,000 workers but only 6,000 will come from outside Guam. The remaining 4,000 workers will be Guam residents and other foreign workers already in the US territory," the POEA noted. 



Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz earlier said the construction for the military facilities would be until 2020, and projects worth about a billion US dollars should be awarded every year, requiring around 7,000 to 10,000 construction workers.



"A Filipino contractor in Guam informed the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in the area that easily 50 percent of the required manpower can be sourced out from the Philippines because of its workers' experience and track record of performance," she said in a previous statement.



Records from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas show that as of December 2009, there are over 23,000 Filipinos in Guam, which is one of the five US territories. 



Of the figure, more than half are considered permanent residents, while the rest are either undocumented or temporarily staying there until the end of their employment contracts. 





Prioritize OFWs from Iraq in Guam deployment -- TUCP



labor group has urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to prioritize overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) coming from Iraq when deploying laborers to Guam.



In a statement, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said DOLE should give preference to some 6,000 Filipino workers who will move out of Iraq, as it is set to enlist as many as 10,000 workers for deployment to Guam.



"On one hand, we have 6,000 workers out of Iraq. On the other hand, we have 7,000 to 10,000 initial job openings in Guam. The DOLE might as well give priority to our workers from Iraq in filling up the Guam vacancies," said TUCP secretary-general Senator Ernesto Herrera, a former senator.



He said doing so will minimize the potential economic impact on workers and their families of the continuing employment ban in the war-torn country.



The US government last July ordered all its military contractors to send home all foreign workers coming from countries that have imposed a deployment ban to Iraq.



Filipinos have been prohibited from working in Iraq since 2004 following a series of suicide bombing attacks and abduction of foreigners, including two Filipinos, as a result of the US-led war.



Late last month, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that while the total ban remains, OFWs already in Iraq and deployed in US military facilities may continue working there until they finish their contracts.



"The job openings in Guam are mostly construction-related activities and services anyway. And many of our workers out of Iraq were engaged to perform similar tasks," Herrera pointed out.



He said given the nature of work of laborers hired by American military contractors in Iraq, Filipino workers coming from the country will readily qualify for the job vacancies in Guam, a US territory.



The DOLE earlier announced that thousands of construction jobs in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) could be available to OFWs should the US$700-million-worth US military hospital project there push through.



Herrera meanwhile said Guam may need up to 30,000 foreign workers in the coming months, as the US military scrambles to build up t infrastructure and services in the US territory.



This is in preparation for the relocation of some 9,200 US troops and their 10,000 dependents from the Japanese island of Okinawa, according to Herrera.



He explained foreign workers needed in Guam include project managers, engineers, accountants, duty-front managers, plan makers, cost-control managers, nurses, doctors, electricians, construction laborers, plumbers, welders, carpenters and brick layers.



Also expected to be in demand are computer graphic artists, computer operators, audio-visual technicians, chefs, cooks, food and beverage managers, bar boys, drivers, receptionists and stewards.






‘Filipino workers assured of more jobs in Guam’


Despite an American lawmaker’s recent proposal to cut down the number of foreign workers in Guam, the US territory’s officials said Wednesday that the projected 15,000 to 20,000 job openings there will still be up for grabs – preferably to Filipinos – come 2010.



“We have affinity for foreign workers, especially for Filipinos," said Guam Senator and Majority Leader Rory Respicio during a press conference held Wednesday at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) office in Mandaluyong.



Respicio made the assurance after US Representative Neil Abercrombie filed a bill that would cut down the percentage of work for foreign workers in the Guam labor market to only 30 percent.



But Guam Senator and Assistant Majority Leader Judith Guthertz said that their Senate will have to pass a similar proposal as Abercrombie’s before it can even take effect. “We do not believe it will pass. He will not get everything he is wishing for," she said.



‘Hard-working, loyal’



Guam officials had also earlier expressed their intention to hire Filipino workers for thousands of jobs that would open up during the transfer of the US military bases from Okinawa, Japan to the island in 2010. (See: Pinoys eyed to fill up 15,000 job vacancies in Guam)



“The most likely source of non-US workers for us would be the Philippines," said Guthertz. This, said Respicio, was because “Filipinos are hardworking, they’re loyal, and they’re very, very industrious."



Alfredo Antolin Jr., senior adviser of both Respicio and Guthertz, said that Filipino workers should find this opportunity very promising. “In Guam, they will be making good money, there won’t be exploitation," he said.



For the relocation project, Guam is willing to pay foreign workers at least $12 or almost P590 per hour or about $1,920 a month equivalent to about P94,000.



Moreover, Guthertz said prospective hires will not have to worry about any placement fees because they will be charging the annual $1,000 service free to their contractor. She said the fee collected will go to their manpower development fund used to train their local workers.



“That (the service fee) is something they have to monitor pero magpupulis din naman tayo dito sa atin (but we will also monitor that on our side)," said POEA Administrator Jennifer Manalili on the possibility that the burden of the service fee might be passed on to the worker.



Manalili said recruitment for the Guam relocation project will not begin until 2010. She added that they have yet to determine the modes of recruitment.



POEA records showed that as of June 2008, a total of 14, 497 Filipinos were residing and working in Guam. A total of 2,352 Filipino workers have been deployed there since 1998.








visit: poea.gov.ph



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