Payment setback for OFWs home journey

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The government acknowledged today that the reason why many of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in strife-torn countries refused to go home was because of the low salary and not because there were no available jobs.

Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said repatriates from Libya and other crisis- stricken countries who will return to the Philippines and decide to seek employment in the local labor market will find jobs to their liking as long as they are qualified and willing to work.

"There are local jobs for OFW repatriates, and it is unfair to say that OFWs in crisis-stricken countries 'refuse' to come home because there are no local jobs available," she said.

She explained that the main probable reason some OFWs are adamant to go back to the Philippines is the difference in pay, which she said was the reason they left the country in the first place.

Of the estimated 13,000 Filipinos in war-torn Libya, only less than 1,000 have so far availed of the government's repatriation program despite threats on their life.

Citing the government's monitoring, Baldoz said the 10 in- demand vacant jobs in the country are construction carpenters, civil engineers, construction laborers, construction foremen, production engineers, mechanical engineers, cadet mechanical engineers, engineering aides, and building construction engineers.