Sto. Tomas: OFWs need to give 6-month notice to RP employers

Sto. Tomas: OFWs need to give 6-month notice to RP employers

Mar 03, 2006
Updated 10:46am (Mla time)
Veronica Uy
INQ7.net

PROSPECTIVE overseas Filipino workers, particularly pilots, nurses, and teachers, need to give their local employers here six months notice, instead of the presently prescribed one month before they can leave for jobs abroad, Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said. The new requirement is in response to the demand of local aviation and medical institutions for a five-year deployment ban on pilots and nurses, who they say has resulted in brain drain, Sto. Tomas said. Sto. Tomas told the 2006 National Manpower Summit at the Manila Hotel Thursday that the proposed ban was "constitutionally problematic."

"That would be involuntary servitude. Instead we have okayed the principle of having [departing OFWs] give their [Philippine-based] employers six months notice before they leave," she said. She said she instructed Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to come up with a formula that would determine which sectors would fall under the new requirement.

“We do not want to jeopardize the local industries whose manpower requirements are in short supply. The formula would determine which skills are in short supply,” the labor chief said. Baldoz explained that the formula would distinguish between the many levels and specializations in these industries.

For instance, the aviation industry differentiates between private pilots and commercial pilots who only get their licenses after four more years of training and flying hours, Baldoz said. “We cannot say that there’s a short supply of nurses because our schools are producing a lot of them. But certain nurses, those who specialize in ICU [intensive care unit] and operating room, will impact greatly if they are taken away,” she said.

When teachers with 15 years experience leave in droves, this is perceived to be damaging, Baldoz said. The POEA chief said she had presented the working formula to the POEA board and was instructed to test it on the aviation, nursing, and teaching sectors. She said these were the sectors presumed to be in critical supply locally. Baldoz said factors to be considered would be the inventory of qualified employees, prospective entrants to the industry, and the passing rate for license examinations.

She said the numbers would still have to be gathered from concerned agencies like the Professional Regulatory Commission and the Air Transportation Office. “We have to get the official data from licensing authorities. We cannot extrapolate data,” she said, adding that the results of the study -- and the corresponding recommendations -- will be out within the month.

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