COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Malaysia needs some 40,000 workers for its rubber and oil palm plantations, an urgent employment need that authorities in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are working hard to fill to help cushion the impact of the Philippines’ unemployment problem.
Myra Alih, ARMM labor secretary, has been tasked to study the Malaysian offer on the aspect of technical assistance and travel requirements by interested parties that may come from Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
“The soonest we can deploy these workers would be economically beneficial to both Malaysia and ARMM,” said Regional Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo.
Sinarimbo, who arrived from a daylong visit to Kuala Lumpur on Monday to lead the first-day Ramadan festivity, said Alih was also working to seek ARMM’s exemption from the central government’s $400 standard monthly stipend for each overseas Filipino worker which Malaysia wanted reduced by $100.
He said many unemployed men were willing to work abroad even if their monthly wages were $300, or slightly less than 15,000 pesos.
The Malaysian government haggled to have the $400 OFW standard monthly pay fixed at $300 and the ARMM administration of Gov. Ansaruddin Adiong was asking for an exemption to the standard ceiling just to be able to provide employment to idle inhabitants who often fall prey to illegal recruiters.
“Forty thousand ARMM residents employed in Malaysia as plantation workers is certainly good news, a top implementing priority before we finally step down on Sept. 30,” Sinarimbo said.
Sinarimbo, elated by the grand welcome accorded to his eight-man party in Kuala Lumpur, said the visit was at the invitation of Malaysian Parliament Speaker Seri Utama Pandikar Amin Bin Haji Mulia, who claimed to have Iranon roots, a Moro tribal blend of Maguindanao-Lanao inhabitants.
Mulia, during his visit here last year to dialogue with ARMM officials, reiterated his government’s promise to raise the standard of living in Mindanao. .
“And providing employment is just a step toward that goal of achieving mutual economic benefits,” Sinarimbo said.
He said that the need for some 36,000 household help in Malaysia late last year has been put on hold on the issue of the standardized $400 OFW monthly wage.