CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The Malaysian government has now opened wide its country’s doors to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) when it announced that the Malaysian Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) will be hiring at least 40,000 Filipinos for its agricultural expansion program.
Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) disclosed that Felda Holdings deputy director general for Administration and Finance Suhaimi Zainuddin that Felda will be expanding its agricultural farms planted to oil palm, rubber and other value crops and thus need to hire additional workers.
“This is a great opportunity for our brothers and sisters back in the Philippines who want to work in other countries,” Sinarimbo said in a release.
The eight-person ARMM delegation, headed by Sinarimbo, was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 26-31 for a trade mission.
He said that Felda Holdings specifically wants Filipino workers because “we are respectful and obedient,” traits that companies that have the settler-farming scheme like Felda want.
Felda Holdings has 880,000 hectares of agricultural land, mostly in Malaysia, making it the world’s largest estate owner and manager, edging out Sime Darby that has 877,000 hectares. It is currently in talks with an Indonesian entity for the purchase of 50,000 hectares, which if pushes through will make its landholdings in Indonesia 90,000 hectares.
At present Felda has 853,313 hectares planted to oil palm, rubber, sugar cane and other high-value crops. It also has 42,173 hectares for the 112,635 settler –families or 1.6 million individuals under its employ.
Sinarimbo said that ARMM Employment Secretary Myra Alih is now preparing the documents for people from the ARMM willing to work in Felda’s farms.
Felda reports showed that each settler-family is responsible for tilling at least 5 hectares of farm and is receiving a monthly salary of 4,195 Malaysian ringgits (P60,212.54 or $1,427.11) for those in the rubber plantations and 3,419 Malaysian ringgits (P49,074.30 or $1,163.12) for those in the oil-palm plantations, Alih said.
Felda Holdings, formed under the Malaysian Land Ordinance Act 1956 but incorporated on September 6, 1995 and became a public company on October 3, 2003, is one of Malaysia’s largest and most diversified agro-based enterprises which run the commercial business related to the Felda. Its total capitalization as of 2009 exceeds Malaysian ringgits 5 billion (P71,767,034,997.05 or $1,700,966,457.30).
