Relax direct-hire memo, Arroyo orders DoLE

President Arroyo on Tuesday ordered the “relaxing" of requirements for direct-hired and “white-collar" overseas Filipino workers to ensure a faster processing of their papers, their hiring and eventual deployment abroad. Arroyo issued the directive during the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-Cabinet Group meeting in Malacañang where she ordered Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to revise Memorandum Circular No. 04 Series of 2007. The memo requires foreign employers to put up a repatriation bond of $5,000 plus up to $3,000 performance bond. Applications for direct hiring are also mandated to be screened by the labor attache in the employer's country, subject to the approval of the Labor secretary. It has been met with howls of protest by OFWs who argued that they would ultimately shoulder the $8,000 bond or lose the overseas employment opportunity because foreign employers would rather recruit from other countries that impose less strict requirements and do not impose payment of bonds. The new guidelines took effect last January 15. Press Secretary Igancio Bunye on Tuesday said the Arroyo order to 'relax' the memo would mean that OFWs being hired as professionals for white-collar jobs or for “executive positions of top gear corporations and institutions" would be exempted from the MC No. 04. Bunye said this would mean that they could forego certain requirements like going through a recruitment agency or registering first with Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). “Professionals who work in known and very reputable companies don’t have as much requirements. The requirements that are normally undertaken to protect our OFWs from exploitation should not apply to these white collar workers and the distinction is very obvious," Bunye said. He said the President felt that these professionals and white-collared OFWs are able to take care of themselves and ensure that they are not exploited or taken advantage of when they accept jobs. A white collar worker is generally described as one who does not perform manual labor in their jobs. They are usually engaged in office jobs and have “a high level of education." The registration with the POEA aims to ensure that the OFWs receive benefits like insurance and health care, education and training, family welfare services and protection and assistance in their place of work. Also on Tuesday, the President said international companies belonging to the Top 500 Fortune (Magazine) Corporations “essentially provide" these benefits and security to the direct-hires in their contracts. Arroyo also directed the POEA to “stop using the Equitable Bank card as identification cards for OFWS and instead use the Social Security System (SSS) card." She also instructed DOLE to scrutinize and review systems in conducting mental exams for OFWS to lessen and eventually eliminate cases of mental disorders in OFWs, and Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) president Alfonso Cusi to ensure that proper courtesies are extended to all passengers, especially OFWs, by all airport personnel. - GMANews.TV