News
PH in talks with NZ employers to absorb laid-off ELE Filipino workers
MEDIA BRIEFING. Office of Transportation Cooperatives Chairperson Andy Ortega, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Board Member Riza Marie Paches and Department of Migrant Workers Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan guest at the Saturday News Forum at Dapo Restaurant in Quezon City on Jan.
13, 2024. Ortega said the government will assist drivers of unconsolidated jeepneys and UV (Utility Vehicle) Express find employment within transport cooperatives and corporations; Paches said all consolidated traditional jeepneys may still operate until it can be replaced with more environmentally friendly vehicles 27 months upon the issuance of their permits to operate; and Caunan said Germany wants to recruit skilled Filipino workers. (PNA photo by Robert Oswald P. Alfiler)
MANILA – The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is in talks with employers in New Zealand who may be willing to absorb the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who lost their jobs after ELE Group of Companies declared bankruptcy.
At a news forum in Quezon City Saturday, DMW Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan said the initiative is on top of the cash aid the government would provide to the OFWs laid off at ELE Holdings Ltd.
, ELE Management Ltd., ELE Ltd., and Tranzport Solutions Ltd.
“Iyong financial na assistance is just one thing. Ang importante po sa mga kababayan natin iyong magkaroon pa rin sila ng trabaho diyan sa New Zealand (The financial assistance is just one thing, it is important that our fellow Filipinos find jobs there),” she said.
The DMW, she said, is coordinating with different employers in New Zealand to see if they would be willing to employ the affected OFWs.
Caunan said DMW would give about 1,050 New Zealand dollars (at least PHP36,800) to the OFWs affected and has so far wired the cash aid to about 107 eligible recipients.
The agency is still processing the financial assistance for 345 others.
Philippine Ambassador to New Zealand Kira Christianne Azucena earlier met with some of the laid-off OFWs and conveyed that the financial assistance was an “expression of the Philippine Government’s steadfast commitment to the welfare of Filipinos overseas, especially those in distress.”
The closure of the company took effect just before the Christmas holidays, affecting more than 500 Filipino workers who were holders of both work visas and resident visas.
Filipinos holding work visas are permitted to find new employment under New Zealand regulations, but this process would take about two months, the Philippine Embassy in Wellington said.
