DOLE: European firms may hire OFWs from Libya

Job opportunities in European companies are opening up for Filipino workers repatriated from Libya, the Department of Labor and Employment said Saturday. The DOLE said the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) will offer available job opportunities in its member companies to qualified applicants. "[On Monday, the DOLE] will meet with ECCP executives to know the vacancies and other details," it said in a news release on its website Saturday night. Also, the DOLE encouraged OFWs returning from Libya to consider the United States Embassy's outreach program "America in 3-D" at the SM City North EDSA in Quezon City. It said the US Embassy will hold a job fair to help fill up over 6,000 local vacancies in 33 American companies in various industries. The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, as well as the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII), have also expressed their desire to hire OFW evacuees from Libya who match the available vacancies in their member-firms, the DOLE added. In a related development, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the DOLE's National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) is ready with appropriate programs for OFW returnees, particularly those from Libya. “Even before this crisis in Libya erupted, the NRCO has already established various reintegration programs for OFWs," she said. She said President Benigno Aquino III instructed the DOLE to set aside P1 billion for the reintegration program as early as November last year. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Administrator Carmelita Dimzon and NRCO Director Vivian Tornea said the assistance programs include:

• Immediate job search assistance for local or overseas employment;
• Entrepreneurship/micro-enterprise development assistance for business capital or starter kits to obtain business loans and other credit facilities; and
• Counseling on values formation, family support, and the available productive options including wage employment, livelihood, business or entrepreneurial possibilities.