Arroyo vows to address expats' demands

THE government of the Philippines cherishes the contribution of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and will work to address their longstanding demands was the message President Gloria Arroyo gave to the 1,500-strong community at the Sheraton Hotel last night.

And to prove that actions speak louder than words, President Arroyo ordered, on the spot, the Philippines Department of Labour to take steps towards conducting the professional licensing examinations in Qatar – a long-standing demand of professional Filipinos in Qatar.

Currently, any OFW who wants to move overseas in the capacity of a doctor, engineer, architect etc, must pass a professional licensing examination in the Philippines first, before an exit would be possible. Now OFWs can come to Qatar and take the examinations, passing which, they can seek employment.

The examination is conducted by the Philippine Regulatory Commission which comes under the Department of Labour. It has been offered to Filipinos in Saudi Arabia. The demand was put forward by a host of Filipino forums in Qatar.

“We are all here (including my ministers) at this platform for you. You have a lot of contribution to our economy,” President Arroyo said in her community address.

President Arroyo was of the view that one day OFWs will be going overseas purely “out of choice”, rather than the current situation, where “some unfortunate Filipinos must leave their homes to survive.”

“Qatar is booming and manpower agencies back in the Philippines are receiving multiple job orders for this country. This shows we are a hard-working people,” Arroyo cheered the community.

She also talked about the Filipino Livelihood Support Programme which gives returning OFWs an opportunity to take loans for education, business and other purposes.

Arroyo dismissed that her popularity has plummeted following a decision by her government on value added tax (VAT).

“We will use VAT for infrastructure, for environment, business, employment, and also to pay off national debt. We are also working on building an expressway from North to South in addition to improvised ferry services,” the president said.

The president added that because of the government policies the country’s economy grew at 4.6% in the third quarter of this year, unlike “countries like say Japan, which are facing recession.”