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DOLE: Good traits make Pinoys preferred abroad


Foreign employers hire Filipino workers not because they would take on any job for a cheap pay, but because of their unrivaled skills and good characteristics, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said Tuesday. In a statement, he said overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have a number of traits that give them the edge over other nationalities. Roque disputed a report which said that foreign employers favor OFWs “because of their willingness to do any kind of work even for the smallest pay." “Foreign employers prefer OFWs mainly because of their positive attributes such as their facility with the English language, their industry, flexibility, ability to learn easily, and their happy disposition," Roque said in the statement. He asserted that OFWs maintain their competitive edge abroad and they are better paid than other nationalities in labor-sending countries. Under the country’s Migrant Workers Act, a domestic helper should be paid a minimum of US$400 a month for the services he/ she renders. But other Filipinos often sneak outside the country without proper documents to work abroad. Without the necessary working permits, these illegal migrants are forced to take any jobs without benefits and a lower salary. Migrant groups have often criticized the Philippine government for continuously pushing Filipino women in jobs considered as dirty, dangerous and demeaning abroad. There are an estimated eight million Filipinos abroad, including some six million contract workers. The rest are immigrants, mostly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Overseas Filipinos have been hailed collectively as an important pillar of the Philippine economy, their combined remittances surpassing US15 billion last year. - GMANews.TV

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