Villanueva wants law to ensure Filipinos are priority in PH employment

Senator Joel Villanueva. Photo from his Facebook page 

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Joel Villanueva on Friday pushed for the passage of a measure that would require Filipino employers to ensure that at least 80 percent of their collective workforce are Filipinos.

In filing Senate Bill 1508, or an Act Mandating the Requisite Proportion of Filipino Laborers to Foreign Workers, Villanueva seeks to amend the Labor Code of the Philippines “to ensure that 80 percent of Filipino employers’ collective workforce are Filipinos citizens.”

“Since 2016, incidents of illegal foreign workers entering our special economic zones caused uproar due to the grave disproportionality of foreign workers to Filipino workers,” the senator said in a statement.

Villanueva chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development.

“This mandatory protection will guarantee that Filipinos will always have a fighting chance despite the rapidly shrinking global economy. The State must always uphold and uplift the rights of the Filipino laborer,” he added.

Villanueva noted that as a member of the International Labor Organization, the Philippines is mandated to “maintain open borders in allowing foreign workers to partake in the country’s labor force.”

“However, in a world where unprecedented opportunities exist for global citizens to work in foreign countries, the need for substantive protection for Filipino citizens to meaningful opportunities remains,” he said.

The senator further cited data from the Philippine Statistics Authority that showed latest unemployment rate in the country was at 5.2 percent as of January 2019.

Villanueva has led Senate investigations on the influx of illegal foreign workers in the country.

READ: Senate to probe influx of illegal Chinese workers

Villanueva cited a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) report in 2018, which indicated 167 foreign nationals employed locally without working permits were arrested by the bureau.

“Of those arrested, 95 percent or 159 cases, involved Chinese nationals. Most of them have been arrested for illegal online gambling,” he noted.

The senator explained that for foreign employees to work in the country, they must first secure an alien employment permit (AEP) from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The said permit regulates the entry of foreign workers, he said.

DOLE, Villanueva added, vets foreign workers seeking employment in the country to ensure there are no capable, able, and willing Filipinos to do the job.

“The information we received from the NBI offers another perspective that we need to consider in this pressing problem of illegal foreign workers using loopholes in our system to take away jobs that Filipinos can do,” Villanueva said. /kga