An overseas workers group fears that hundreds of job opportunities in Japan for Filipino workers may not be realized due to ineffectiveness and snail-paced action of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office employees in Tokyo, Japan, saying official transactions are not being processed by POLO employees in Japan.
Former Labor undersecretary and president of Lilac Center for Public Interest Inc. Nicon Fameronag urged the Department of Labor and Employment to direct its POLO in Tokyo to act fast on verification documents of Japanese employers who wish to hire Filipino skilled workers, saying now is the time to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the liberalization of Japan’s labor market.
“There are many complaints of snail-paced action of the POLO in Tokyo on Japanese employers’ official transactions with it. If the DOLE shall not quickly act on these complaints, we will certainly lose to other countries whose nationals are also eyeing the lucrative Japanese market,” Fameronag said Monday.
“POLOS should further streamline their processes for the benefit of OFWs,” he said.
Fameronag made the call in a symposium which was aimed at familiarizing Japanese employers and Philippine recruitment agencies with the country’s policies, rules, and regulations governing the recruitment and deployment of Filipino workers to Japan arising from the Memorandum of Cooperation on the Basic Partnership Framework for Proper Operation of the System Pertaining to Foreign Human Resources with the Status of Residence of “Special Skilled Worker” between the Philippines and Japan.
The symposium was attended by POEA Deputy Administrator lawyer Villamor Ventura Plan and 87 POEA licensed recruitment agencies led by for Philippine Association of Service Exporters Inc. president Elsa U. Villa, PASEI corporate treasurer Rowena Paragas, and Julian Frederick G. Santiago, operations manager of Angelex Allied Agency.
Among the Japanese employers in attendance were Tatsuya Aikawa, Yuji Naito, Naoto Sugawara, Peter Leung of EmployEasy Group Ltd. and RokkakuMitsutaka, Japan operation manager of the International Easy Reach Co., Ltd. LuiCheuk Kwan, chief executive officer of EmployEasy Group Ltd., spoke to the conference via video conferencing.
The occasion also launched the online HelperDB and MySkilledWorkers developed by Hong Kong IT company Employ Easy Group Ltd.