More than half of 6,000 jobseekers pass Korean language test

Almost 3,000 of the over 6,000 prospective Filipino jobseekers in Korea passed the Korean Language Test (KLT). In a release posted on its web site Friday, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said 2,755 or 42.7 percent of the 6,466 applicants passed the test conducted on May 2. The top examinees were Maria Elena De Asis from Baesa in Quezon City, who got a perfect score of 200, followed by Bernard Landicho of Sariaya in Quezon province who scored 196. Nitzeh Camansi of Danao City in Cebu and Cecile Matias of Nueva Ecija both got 192 points. The passing score was pegged at 80. The POEA said the Philippines was given a total of 7,100 slots as applicants to be included in the 2010 Roster of Jobseekers. This is higher than the successful KLT examinees, so another test will likely be conducted by the Human Resource Development Service (HRDS) of Korea this year, it added. Results may be viewed here. The POEA reminded successful examinees to immediately submit to the POEA their fit-to-work medical certification from any clinic accredited by the Department of Health, for their names to be included in the list of jobseekers under the Employment Permit System (EPS) of Korea. The POEA earlier said the HRDS has adopted a new qualifying system this year that allows only those who scored at least 80 points out of 50 test items on reading and listening examination, and who are in the top 5,000, to be included in the roster. The previous passing score was 120 points. Over 21,000 Filipino workers have been deployed under the EPS since August 2004, according to the POEA. It added basic monthly wages for foreign EPS workers have also been adjusted from $640 (about P29,120) to $940 (about P42,770) in current job offers. - GMANews.TV