'New job generation visa won’t solve unemployment'

MANILA, Philippines - A migrant group on Wednesday said that the policy allowing foreigners to stay in the Philippines indefinitely provided they employ at least 10 Filipinos will not solve the unemployment in the country. Migrante International in a statement on Wednesday slammed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s Executive Order (EO) 758, or the Special Visa for Employment Generation (SVEG), which grants permanent visas for foreigners who employ at least 10 Filipinos in the country. EO 758, which was signed on Monday, has the effect of a law that would prescribe guidelines for the issuance of a special visa to non-immigrants for employment generation. “How can EO 758 concretely solve the recurring problem of unemployment in the country and overseas?" said Migrante chairperson Garry Martinez. Citing government statistics, Migrante noted that there are currently 2.75 million unemployed and 7.275 million underemployed workers in the country. The group also cited warnings by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Department of Foreign Affairs that to four million Filipino contract workers overseas and an estimated 900,000 undocumented overseas workers could be affected by the worldwide financial crunch. Timely solution Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan had earlier described EO 758 as timely because this would “mitigate the negative impact of the current economic meltdown on the Philippine economy." He said that it would now be easier for foreigners to do business in the country as the order waives the requirements for visa applications and encourages them to bring their investments into the country. Under EO 758, a foreigner who employs at least ten Filipinos must invest at least P200 million because one job creation costs P10 million. “This would be an active investment because the foreign investors pay monthly compensation to their employees, thus it revolves the economy, hindi tulad ng nangyayari ngayon na inactive ang investments (unlike what’s happening now where the investments are inactive)," said Libanan. According to the Bureau of Immigration (BI), it shall only issue the SVEG to a foreigner engaged in “viable and sustainable commercial enterprise, trade or industry" that employs at least 10 Filipinos. He or she must also have the “genuine intention" to remain in the Philippines and must not be a risk to national security. Foreigners with the said visa would then be considered to be special non-immigrants with multiple entry privileges and conditional extended stay, without need of prior departure from the Philippines. In addition, the same visa may be extended to the visa applicant’s spouse and dependents under 18 years of age, whether legitimate, illegitimate, or adopted. Arroyo has instructed the BI to monitor the compliance of visa holders by the guidelines of the SVEG and to revoke the visas of those found to have been violating its conditions. ‘Subservience’ However, Martinez said that the order is “indicative of Arroyo’s extreme subservience to foreign interests." Calling EO 758 “pro-investor and anti-worker," he said that it validates the “semi-colonial set-up" we have in the country. “…foreign corporations are given free reign to plunder and exploit our resources indefinitely, while our workers are nailed to deplorable working conditions and slave-like wages," he said. Martinez said that this would “step up the labor export program of the Arroyo government and the hegemony of big foreign corporations and businesses in the country." - GMANews.TV