An employment service center set up by Taiwanese businesspeople in the Philippines opened in Makati in Metro Manila yesterday with the aim of helping Filipinos obtain work in Taiwan without having to go though costly labor brokers.
The center was established as part of the Philippine Cross-Strait Retirees Foundation that was launched the same day by Taiwanese and Chinese retirees. The two facilities were formally inaugurated by Amadeo Perez Jr, head of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan, and Leng Hsin-ming (冷新銘), a division chief at Taiwan’s representative office in the Philippines.
Lin Hsiu-kuo (林秀國), executive director of the new foundation, said its main tasks include assisting Taiwanese and Chinese retirees in the Philippines, helping Filipinos seek work in Taiwan and promoting products made at Taiwanese factories in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, the employment service center will offer direct employment services to Filipinos looking to work in Taiwan, including a start-up loan of US$1,500 for those who find employment, he said.
With these services, Philippine workers would not have to borrow money from labor brokers at high rates of interest or fall victim to fraud schemes, Lin said.
Philippine workers usually have to pay NT$69,000 before they can fly to Taiwan to take up a job, but most of that money ends up in the pockets of labor brokers, Perez said.
Many Filipinos are forced to take high-interest loans or mortgage their property to raise the funds to travel to Taiwan to work, he said.
Lin welcomed the new employment service center as a milestone in Taiwan-Philippines labor affairs.
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