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The
speed by which the Department of Labor and Employment
(DOLE) is granting Alien Employment Permits (AEP) to
foreigners for local positions makes it appear the
Philippines lacks the manpower skills and talents to
fill these posts.
Almost
every day, I see an ad/notice in the newspapers from
DOLE with a list of foreigners applying for AEPs. I
wonder if anybody has been rejected, even for such
positions as finance managers or consultants. I grant
that for certain technical skills such as IT or
production/technical operations, a foreign company
wishing to set up shop in the Philippines would want to
bring in their own people. But I can’t understand why
other positions that may be capably served by Filipino
managers are given to expensive foreign consultants.
Many
Filipino talents are leaving for better-paying jobs
abroad, and here we are allowing foreigners to take away
the better-paying jobs here in our own country. And
after their supposed tenure in the Philippines, would
these foreigners go back to their country? No, what they
would do is offer their services to Philippine companies
not as expatriates but as local hires, after getting a
permanent residency in the
Philippines
by, perhaps, marrying a Filipina. How convenient.
And this
situation is not confined to managerial positions. We
see them all in the fields of entertainment such as
movies, TV, and broadcasting; sports such as basketball;
architecture and interior design, engineering, trading
and retailing, telecommunications, real estate, resorts
and hotels, insurance, investment banking, etc.
I know
that we have entered the world of globalization. But
while other countries such as the
USA
are protecting their people by putting up a lot of
barriers to entry into their shores, here we are
virtually opening our shores to all nationals. We are
now seeing an influx of Chinese, Koreans, Indians,
Japanese, Australian, Indonesians, Germans, etc.
occupying positions that could rightfully provide
gainful employment to a fellow Filipino.
I am not
against the hiring of foreigners to work in the
Philippines. But I feel that we do not have sufficient
safeguards to prevent abuse and corruption in the
system. We need to have a clear-cut policy on foreign
employment in the Philippines. We should not surrender
our sovereignty to foreign countries. I understand that
opening further the service sector is one of the
provisions in the Jpepa. We should protect local jobs
the way other countries such as Japan, Europe and the
USA protect their own local jobs. We should revisit the
reciprocity principal and see if it is really to the
national interest.
Let us
have an open discussion on this issue. Our future and
the future of our family and our children are at stake.
Either we, Filipinos stay here in the Philippines to
fight for our jobs. Or we migrate to other countries and
seek a better future.
God has
blessed the
Philippines
with all the resources it needs to develop and progress.
We have the people, the talent and skills to make this
country work. I hope it is still not too late.
Hermie R. de la Paz
E-mail: mhrdelapaz@gmail.com |
