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DEC 2008

Philippine Govt seeking 5,500 Taiwan Construction Jobs

The Philippine Government is negotiation for 5,500 construction jobs or 10% of the estimated 55,000 jobs that will be created as part of Taiwan’s stimulus package. If the plan goes through, construction workers from the Philippines can apply through POEA. There are around 90,000 filipino workers in Taiwan. Nearly 2,100 Filipinos have been laid off in Taiwan primarily in the electronics and textile sector.


	Philippines eyes increased spending to stimulate jobs and boost growth The Philippine government is planning to increase spending in the first half of the year as part of a P300B government stimulus package on projects such as infrastructure and social services to ward off the recession affecting the rest of the world and prevent the Philippines economy from contracting. Projects planned include upgrading roads, bridges, hospitals, irrigation systems, schools and government buildings. In addition, the government seeks to hire more policeman and teachers.
	Top 25 RP BPO Call Centers report $1.67B in revenue for 2007 according to the House Information and Technology Committee


	October Jobless rate fell to 6.8% from 7.4% in July
	The Philippine Economy grew 4.6% for the year ending September, down from 7.2% in 2007
	RP seeks 700-750K BPO jobs in 2010 according to the Philippine Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT)


	80% of BPO offices are located in Metro Manila
	The Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) reported 24.4% increase in overseas employment with the hiring of 1,221, 829 filipino workers hired this year.
	Nearly 4,000 Filipinos are leaving the country to work overseas


	Philippines remittance of $1.4B for October is the second highest on record according to the Central Bank
	Philippine Remittance has recorded over $1B for the past 2 years Philippine Remittance is 1/10^th of the country’s domestic output Total Remittance for 2008 is $13.7B Philippines Remittances up 3.3% from last year, the slowest pace in over a year
	BPO Call Centers in the RP are still hiring despite the worldwide economic crisis reported by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP). New hires are primarily call center agents, IT and Administrative support staff

Qatar sets up $1B Sovereign Fund in the Philipines

The Government of Qatar has reached an agreement to create a $1B Sovereign Fund to help in the Philippines development primarily for infrastructure and other projects in particular the muslim community in Mindanao. Qatar would seek to contribute $850M or 85% of the fund, while the Philippines will provide for the remaining $150M or 15%.

QATAR will issue 128,000 work visas for Filipino workers according to Malacanang

KC Conception is the Philippines Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The WFP is committing $15M to improve nutrition for underprivileged children for selected asian countries including the Philippines

Oct 2008

MORE and more Filipino software designers and systems engineers are now becoming world-class information technology specialists after passing a series of tough examinations given by Japanese IT engineers through the Philippine National IT Standard (PhilNits) Foundation. SunStar

Philippine economic managers attending the annual World Bank-International Monetary Fund summit in Washington D.C. admit that the Philippines will certainly be affected by the global financial crisis.But they say there is one saving grace -- a steady flow of remittances from an estimated 11 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW's). PacifcNewsCenter

In an earlier report, S&P’s said the global financial crisis will not threaten the Philippines’ credit ratings but the government must improve its fiscal position. PhilStar

‘Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) lowers labor standards for Pinoy nurses, caregivers’ ABS CBN News

More than 8,400 Pinoy kitchen professionals, two-thirds of them who are chefs and cooks, were hired for foreign employment last year, up from the 1,900 deployed in 1990, Reuters reports. Pinoy Chef's work on cruise liners, hospitals and military camps in the Middle East. Pinoy Chef's may also be found in five-star restaurants or in royal palaces and presidential mansions. Manila Times

Remittances, the main driver of domestic consumption for the Philippines, grew 13% to $14.449 billion in 2007, exceeding the Bangko Sentral’s full-year target of 10 %. The main sources for remittances for 2008 will be the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Manila Times

Up to 50,000 Filipinos professionals working overseas may lose their jobs as the United States and other economies sink into a recession, ABS-CBN News reported Oct. 9, citing Labor Secretary Marianito Roque. Remittances from about 8 million Filipinos working abroad make up more than 10% of the $144 billion Southeast Asian economy, supporting spending on homes, cars and mobile phones. Bloomberg

WITH the economic downturn in the United States likely affecting and hurting many Filipinos who live and work in the US, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects an equal drop in the amount of money remitted back to relatives in the Philippines. Remittances for the year will most likely buck the trend established so far in the seven months to July when Filipinos abroad remitted home 18.2% more money in dollar terms from a year earlier. Business Mirror

50,000 Filipino workers are feared to lose their jobs in U.S. reports Chinaview. At least 50,000 Filipino workers and professionals working inthe United States may be laid off due to the worldwide economic crisis, Philippine Vice President Noli De Castro stated on Tuesday. There are currently more than 8 million Filipinos working overseas, some 1/3 of whom live in the United States. Others Filipinos are concentrated in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe. Xinhua

Rolando Tungpalan, a senior official at the economic planning ministry, stated that the Philippines was not planning a rescue package for its own banks as the Philippine banking sector were still doing well, having shored up their balance sheets after the 1997 Asian crisis. ABS-CBN News

Last year they sent home 14.4 billion dollars, equivalent to 10 percent of the Southeast Asian nation's gross domestic product. The government had hoped that figure would exceed 15 billion dollars this year. But if the financial crisis continues to deepen, as many economists believe will happen, the impact on the Philippines could be severe. AFP

There has been no sign yet of reduced overseas demand for Filipino workers and professionals. The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) state that global demand for overseas Filipino workers, or OFWs, remains stable, in spite of the global economic slowdown, even as the government prepares for a "worst case scenario" of a sudden influx of thousands of such workers should they be laid off. BusinessWorld

“So far, we have not received any indications nor any reports from our 37 labor officers abroad of any reduction in the requirement for Filipino overseas workers. So the situation remains stable on the overseas employment front, and we do not expect any reduction in demand for overseas Filipinos, especially in the Middle East.” Business Mirror

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Canadian officials are set to arrive in Manila on Sunday to finalize the proposed guidelines on the employment and deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in the province of British Columbia, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Friday. GMANews.TV

Venture capitalists—high net-worth individuals interested in funding start-up companies—are more keen in investing in the Philippines at this time of uncertainty brought about by the US financial crisis. GMANews.TV

The US credit crunch “is a silver lining," Martin Lichauco told GMANews.TV. “As companies shift to cost-efficient means of doing business, we see funding Philippine companies as an opportunity." GMANews.TV

This is the new tagline of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP). It now aims to get the world to recognize Filipino excellence in outsourcing services and achieve clear strategies to ensure better business environment and wide opportunities in this competitive industry. Inquirer.net

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced on Friday that a New York-based call center firm invested millions of dollars in new technology for their Philippine operations. Inquirer.net

Leading international experts in health, wellness and tourism will gather Oct. 22-25 in Metro Manila in what is touted as Asia’s biggest industry event, even as some of them believe local businesses could earn as much as $2 billion a year from medical tourism. Inquirer.net

Despite the global financial crisis the Philippine economy is more resilient now than it ever has been, President Gloria Arroyo said Friday. She said economic reforms put in place in recent years such as increasing value added tax from 10 percent to 12 percent had enabled the economy to weather the current storm. AFP

The Philippine unit of American International Group (AIG) said it is among the assets being sold by the U.S. insurer to pay off debt to the U.S. government. Reuters

Foreign nurses and caregivers who want to work in Japan may find working conditions there exploitative or even discriminatory, according to a study. Based on research by Prof. David Adam Scott of the University of Kitakyushu in Japan, employment programs of foreign nurses and caregivers have resulted in trainees being forced to work long hours. ABS-CBN

Amid the oversupply of Filipino nurses, the government is looking into the possibility of employing them as interns in hospitals abroad. “That (nurse apprenticeship) is something that we should look into," said Jennifer Manalili, administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in a recent interview with GMANews.TV. GMANews.TV

The Philippines and India are among the world’s biggest exporters of skilled and talented women workers. Some estimates put at more than two million the number of skilled Indian and Filipino women, most of whom are nurses and doctors, working abroad. IPS

While there are numerous studies on migrant domestic workers and caregivers, very few research has focused on the long-term effects of the loss of talented and skilled people -- ‘brain drain’ -- on their home countries’ socio-economic development. IPS

A newly-created agency will help strengthen the Philippines’ micro, small, and medium businesses by collecting data and related information needed by the sector. Besides employing 70 percent of the country’s workforce, MSMEs comprise 99.6 percent of Philippine businesses. GMANews.TV

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) said that it will not be pressured by vested interest groups into coming up with a mark-to-market valuation of its Global Investment Program (GIP). BusinessWorld

The Philippines has better prospects for survival with the US Senate’s resounding approval of a sweetened $700-billion Wall Street rescue plan, the Arroyo administration’s economic managers said Philippine Star

Strong competition, continuous recruitment of Filipino designers abroad and high prices of local artworks are threatening the handicraft industry in the Philippines. Ajun Valenzuela, executive director of the Philippine Chamber of Handicraft Industries (PCHI), said these factors are shaking the Philippine handicraft industry and affecting the local business. ABS-CBN News

Filipinos abroad learning business smarts. FOR many Filipinos in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the underlying dream is to save up, go back home, start a business and eventually attain financial independence. But even though many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have done this before, a huge percentage has also found the path to entrepreneurship very difficult. Inquirer.NET

Filipino nurses can breathe a sigh of relief as deployment for nurses going to the United States will still continue despite the recession in the land of Uncle Sam. Philippine Information Agency

Saudi Arabia is in the process of recruiting 2,000 Filipino nurses and has announced 1,000 scholarships for Saudi women in a move to address the shortage of nurses. Global Nation

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