The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has noted an increasing trend in the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) this year reaching to at least 70,000 land-based and sea-based workers per month.
POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said the deployment of Filipino workers overseas has been improving this year amid the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Kung ikukumpara po natin iyong ating figures doon sa deployment noong 2020 na kasagsagan ng pandemic at iyon pong deployment natin ngayong 2021, on a month to month basis, nakikita po natin iyong malaking pag-angat ng ating deployment ngayon (If we compare the figures of our deployment in 2020 when the pandemic started and now in 2021, we can see a big improvement in our deployment now),” Olalia said in a virtual press briefing.
According to the POEA chief, the country has been deploying over 30,000 land-based and 40,000 sea-based OFWs every month.
These figures, Olalia said, only mean that our economy has been slowly reopening while travel and border restrictions of countries of destination are also gradually easing.
With the increasing deployment rate, he shared that Filipino health care workers (HCWs) are still in high demand abroad especially in countries in Europe and the Middle East.
“Sa Europe katulad po ng UK and Germany, mataas po iyong pangangailangan nila ng kanilang HCWs particularly nurses dahil ito po ang mga frontliners nila tulad din dito sa atin nitong mga pandemic na ito (In Europe, such as in UK and Germany, the need for HCWs, particularly nurses, is high as they are their frontliners in this pandemic),” Olalia said.
“Sa Middle East, ganoon din po mataas din po ang demand sa mga countries tulad po ng KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Qatar, Kuwait, ng mga nurses po natin (It is also the same in the Middle East. The demand for our nurses is high in countries such as KSA, Qatar, and Kuwait),” he added.
Aside from HCWs, Olalia said employers abroad are also looking for technologically based or skilled workers and Filipino seafarers.
”Yung mga technologically based OFWs po natin o iyong mga skilled kung tawagin, yan din po ay in demand ngayon mga panahon na ito (Technologically based OFWs or those we call skilled are also in demand these times),” Olalia mentioned.
“Sa seafaring industry naman ang in demand po diyan the usual is yung mga cargo vessels, transport vessels, petroleum vessels na nagdi-deliver ng mga supply over the world using the seafaring or the maritime sector. Ang cruise ship po ay unti-unti na rin pong nagbubukas. (In the seafaring industry, the usual in demand are cargo vessels, transport vessels, and petroleum vessels that deliver supplies over the world using the seafaring or the maritime sector. The cruise ship is also slowly reopening now),” he said.