Philippine start banning domestic helper export- Malaysia affected

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia - The shortage of maids is set to get worse with the Philippine embassy here tightening the rules for new agencies to bring in maids from the country.

The changes come in the wake of the Philippine government's decision last week to phase out the sending of its citizens overseas to work as domestic helpers.

Sources in the industry said the embassy was no longer giving accreditation to new maid agencies.

However, the embassy's labor attach Dr Alicia Santos, told The Star that accreditation for new recruitment agencies to bring in Filipino domestic helpers had not been stopped but it would not be easy to get as before.

"Not everyone who applies will get the endorsement. We are becoming stricter to ensure that agencies abide by all requirements and terms," she said.

Dr Santos said existing agencies could continue operating but the embassy was conducting a thorough assessment on all of them.

"Many agencies which pledged to follow regulations have not been keeping to their word," she added.

Dr Santos said there had also been discussions on imposing a moratorium, but nothing had been finalized.

On whether accredited agencies would be stripped of their status if they were found to have breached rules, she said the matter was still being discussed with higher authorities.

"The major issues faced with employment agencies here concern payment of salaries as well as the welfare and protection of our citizens," she said.

Last week, the Philippine government directed the Overseas Employment Agency to reduce the deployment of Filipinas to work as hired help in foreign households, in stages, over the next five years.

The programme to slow down and stop the migration of domestic workers abroad is aimed at protecting Filipinas from abuses.

The phase-out plan would affect about 180 countries where Filipinas work as maids or nannies.

However, the Philippine government said it might allow such workers to parts of Europe where salaries were high for certain types of domestic labour.

The Philippine embassy here cited the country's improved economy and the availability of quality jobs at home as the reasons for the decision.

It said those seeking jobs as domestic workers were often over-qualified, adding that Philippines preferred to send only skilled and semi-skilled workers abroad.

Dr Santos said the demand for Filipina maids in Malaysia had increased since 2009 as they were highly trained in performing household chores and could speak English.

The minimum wage for Filipina domestic workers is set at US$400 (S$502) per month, compared with between RM600 and RM800 for Indonesians.

The number of Filipina domestic workers in the country reportedly rose from 4,000 in 2009 to about 10,000 currently.

According to the Philippines' Overseas Employment Agency records, 499,495 household service workers went abroad over the past six years.

More than 70,000 of them secured jobs overseas in the first half of this year.

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Philippines climbs 10 notches to 65th in WEF competitiveness ranking

Enjoying a favorable performance in its economy and having a government with a determined anti-corruption drive, the Philippines leaped by 10 notches in the global competitiveness ranking for the year to 65th out of 144 countries.

The country's latest performance followed a similar 10-notch jump to the 75th spot in 2011, thereby resulting in a 20-notch overall jump so far in the Aquino administration.

"The Philippines makes important strides this year in improving competitiveness—albeit often from a very low base—especially with respect to its public institutions," The World Economic Forum (WEF) said in its 2012-2013 Global Competitiveness Report, which was released Wednesday worldwide.

According to the WEF, the Philippines was one of the few countries that registered a double-digit improvement in ranking this year.

The Philippines landed on the 65th spot after it registered an overall score of 4.23 points (out of 7 points) across all 12 categories considered by businesses as major areas for determining a country's competitiveness.

Guillermo Luz, co-chairman of the Philippines' National Competitiveness Council (NCC), said in a press conference on Wednesday that this year was the first time the country landed on the list of upper 50 percent of countries ranked in the global competitiveness survey.

He said the NCC has been targeting the Philippines to land on the list of the upper one-third of the global competitiveness rankings by 2016, the end of the Aquino administration.

The survey on global competitiveness, which taps businesses as respondents, grades countries based on the following 12 categories or "pillars": [government] institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labor market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation.

Luz said the Philippines registered improvement in 11 out of the 12 categories.

The Philippines gained the most in the "institutions" category, where it jumped by 23 places to 94th from last year's 117th.

In the "infrastructure" category, the country improved its ranking by seven places to 98th; for "macroeconomic environment," up 18 places to 36th; for "higher education" and training, up seven places to 64th; for goods market efficiency, up two places to 86th; for labor market efficiency, up 10 places to 103rd; for financial market development, up 13 places to 58th; for "technological readiness," up four places to 79th; for "market size," up one place to 35th; for "business sophistication," up eight places to 49th; and for "innovation," up 14 places to 94th.

The only category where the Philippines registered a ranking slippage was in "health and primary education," where it fell six places to 98th.

Luz said the country's favorable performance in the "institutions" category reflected the success so far of the Aquino administration to convince the business sector that there has been improvement in governance so far in his term.

Out of the 15,000 businesses that served as respondents to the global competitiveness survey for this year, 132 came from the Philippines.

On the "macroeconomic environment" category, Luz attributes the country's improved ranking in the country's favorable economic performance.

The Philippine economy grew by 5.9 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, making the country one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia. This brought its average growth for the first semester to 6.1 percent, keeping the government's full-year growth target of 5 to 6 percent attainable.

Ramon del Rosario Jr., chairman of the Makati Business Club, however, said a lot of work still has to be done in several areas to help ensure the Philippines meets the 2016 target as far as its global competitiveness ranking is concerned.

To reach the upper one-third of the rankings by 2016, he said, the country must improve significantly on the area of infrastructure development and market efficiency, particularly labor market efficiency.

Despite increases in government spending on infrastructure this year, infrastructure investment in the Philippines remains one of the lowest in the region. Infrastructure spending in the country is estimated to be equivalent to less than 3 percent of the country's gross domestic product, below the 5 percent average for Southeast Asia.

"Despite these very positive trends, many weaknesses remain to be addressed. The country's infrastructure is still in dire state, particularly with respect to sea and air transport, with little or no progress achieved to date," Del Rosario said in the same press conference.

He said businesses have always considered infrastructure a vital area considered by firms in deciding whether or not to invest in a country.

With its improved ranking this year, the Philippines has beaten Vietnam, which enjoyed better rankings than that of the Philippines in the past years. This year, Vietnam ranked 75th.

The Philippines continues to lag behind other major Asian economies in the global competitiveness rankings.

Hong Kong ranked 9th, Taiwan 13th, South Korea 19th, Malaysia 25th, China 29th, Thailand 38th, Indonesia 50th, and India 59th.

Inquirer 

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AFP: 2 Marines Battalion will position to the Spratly Islands + Brigade

 The Philippine Marines will beef up its presence in its command post in Palawan, the western part of the Philippines facing the disputed West Philippine Sea for "internal and territorial defense operations."

Lieutenant Colonel Neil Estrella, spokesman of the Western Command, said that there is "plan in motion" to deploy a brigade headquarters in Palawan.

The brigade headquarters will provide support to the two battalions already stationed in Palawan.

Setting up a brigade headquarters will allow easier access to artillery and armor support units.

Estrella said they need to beef up the two Marine battalions with a brigade because a brigade has more armor, more artillery, and support units. "It's not actually an expansion but more of realigning the troop deployment to enable them to give ample support to their requirements,'' Estrella said in Filipino.

The Philippine Marines used to have a brigade headquarters in the 1970s, but was moved to Mindanao due to the ongoing conflict there.

Meanwhile, Estrella denied being the officer quoted in a report by the Japanese news organization Kyodo as saying US Marines were also seen to set up "an advanced command post" in Palawan.

The report, quoting a senior military officer, said the plan includes deploying 50 to 60 US Marines and converting a 246-hectare Marine Corps reservation in Samariniana town in Brooke's Point, in southeastern Palawan, into a joint marine operational command.

The officer added in the report that the 1.1-kilometer airstrip inside the reservation will be extended to 2.4 km to accommodate big U.S. military transport planes. The construction work was reported to start in September in time for the annual Philippine-U.S. amphibious landing exercise in Palawan.

But Estrella did not confirm the report, and also denied he was the officer quoted in the article.

He said there were also no US Marines the area.

"Sabi ko hindi naman ganun kadali yun, why would I mention that eh hindi naman ako US Embassy (I said it's not really that easy and why would I mention something like that when I'm not from the US Embassy)," he told reporters.

He also said the plans of expanding the airport have been long considered, but for commercial purposes and not for the military.

Inquirer 

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