The government is taking stringent measures to regulate the influx of illegal workers in the country, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Tuesday.
He said an inter-agency agreement will be signed today, Thursday, to address the growing number of foreign nationals working here, particularly in Philippine offshore gaming operations or POGO.
Among the possible actions to be taken under the Joint Memorandum Circular or JMC is the deportation of foreign workers who do not have work permits.
“Appropriate sanctions, including deportation, will be imposed on the foreign workers who violate the provisions of the JMC, including non-registration for tax purposes,” Guevarra said.
“Foreign workers employed in POGOs, particularly Chinese nationals, will be covered by this JMC.”
Guevarra said the JMC will be signed by the Justice department and the Bureau of Immigration with the Department of Labor and Employment, Professional Regulation Commission, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
Guevarra said the enforcement of the JMC could be an alternative to a proposal in the Senate to remove the authority of Immigration to issue special work permits to foreigners.
While Guevarra admitted there are loopholes in the implementation of the law covering foreign workers, he said that could be plugged through the closer coordination among relevant government agencies.
He said there was no need for legislative action to address the problem of foreigners illegally working in the country as suggested by Senator Joel Villanueva.
“This issue can be addressed in a faster way without amending the law, Guevarra said.
“It’s not a question of which agency should be solely responsible for the issuance of SWPs [special work permits]. The issue is how to tighten up the rules on SWPs. The BI and DOLE only need to work together on this.”
Guevarra cited, for instance, the lack of effective mechanism to monitor the status of all foreign workers in the country.
“The problem really is how to monitor the movement of each and every foreign worker after the expiration of his/her SWP issued by the BI or the long-term alien employment permit issued by the DOLE. That requires a lot of intelligence resources so we can control the number at the outset or from their entry here,” Guevarra said.