Filipino workers are preferred by employers in Kyushu, Japan due to their industriousness and fast learning ability, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Sunday, citing the post outreach mission report of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Osaka, Japan.
In her report, Labor Attache Elizabeth Estrada told Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III that employers were very appreciative of the country's efforts to reach out to them amid the pandemic.
She said they also expressed their hope for the lifting of the ban on foreign workers due to the coronavirus.
According to DoLE, the POLO visited the worksites of OFWs in vulnerable occupations, particularly in the performing arts and agriculture sectors, and consulted with the employers on the issues and concerns on Filipino workers and labor documentation.
The POLO team also checked the working and living condition of the OFWs and promoted the Philippine government’s programs for the Filipino migrant workers.
The employers also commended POLO’s sharing of information and documents on the prescribed processes and documentary requirements for both the Specified Skilled Workers (SSW) and the Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) and the common mistakes that the POLO-Osaka has observed in the evaluation of labor documents with Japanese translation.
The Labor department said the SSW is a status of residence applicable to foreigners who work in jobs that require considerable knowledge of or experience in specified industries while the TITP, also known as Skills and Technology Transfer Project, is an arrangement between POEA and Japan International Training Cooperation Organization that allows the acceptance of skilled workers.
Seven of the eight prefectures in Kyushu are under the jurisdiction of POLO-Osaka – Fukuoka, Saga, Oita, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima.
The region has around 27,000 overseas Filipino workers.