A congressman from Mindanao on Monday urged the government to enter into a labor agreement with China after finding out from Philippine labor authorities and the Chinese embassy that the two countries do not yet have a bilateral labor agreement.
“The time is right and circumstances are ripe for having such an agreement,” Rep. Frederick Siao of Iligan City said.
“There is a crucial need for this because, as President Rodrigo Duterte has pointed out, there are about 300,000 Filipinos in China,” said Siao, who was part of the congressional delegation that welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to Mindanao last November during his state visit.
“Many Filipino workers in China are professionals and skilled workers. Some are in the tourism and arts sectors. Many are also undocumented migrants. Having a labor pact with China will protect them and see to their welfare,” he added.
The congressman said either a bilateral executive pact or a treaty could be crafted.
“The executive agreement would be easier to do, so we could do that first. The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment can jointly work on this on our side and while they do, their counterparts in China can do their work as well. When working documents are ready, bilateral meetings can be held,” said Siao, vice chairman of the House committee on tourism.
Noting that an executive agreement takes time to develop, Siao said, “we can learn from how current related agreements with China are working out.”
“We have education, scientific, technical, and business agreements in place and underway through different exchanges and projects. These agreements can be upgraded or expanded. The mechanisms and lessons learned from the existing agreements would be inputs to the bilateral labor pact,” he said.