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Plans underway for direct hiring of Filipino workers

Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the Philippines said a new mechanism was being planned to allow the direct hiring of Filipino workers in the future.

This will allow Filipinos to get jobs in Taiwan without having to go through recruiters who get as much as 30 percent out of their their earnings, Taiwan representative Benjamin Jyh-Yuan Lo (羅致遠) said during a visit to the southern Philippine city of Davao.

"Once the mechanisms are put in place, these will be big help to them," he told local officials here.

Taipei has no official relations with Manila. But it maintains an "economic and cultural office" which acts as a virtual embassy in the country.

There are an estimated 85,787 documented Filipinos working in Taiwan, and another 20,000 believed to be illegally employed in the country. These workers remit about US$900 million a year, helping boost the Philippines' economy.

Taipei in 1999 cut back on the number of Filipino workers amid a row with Manila over a bilateral air traffic agreement.

The dispute has since been resolved, although Taiwan said last week it would freeze labor imports from the Philippines if the nation does not agree to a cut in minimum wages.

But Lo vowed he would work to help bring more Filipino workers to Taiwan.

"It is my determination ever since I assumed my duty as representative of my country here that I will leave no stone unturned to help bring more Filipino workers back to Taiwan and retake your number one position" among foreign workers in Taiwan, Lo declared.
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