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Filipino diplomats should aggressively pursue bilateral agreements for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in countries like Ireland where the Philippine government has no existing  formal agreements, Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte said. 

Villafuerte said doing so would protect OFWs against unfair labor practices and racial discrimination. 

The Bicolano specifically sought a formal labor pact between Manila and Dublin after newly-confirmed Philippine Ambassador to Ireland Daniel Ramos Espiritu confirmed reports reaching the Commission on Appointments (CA) about alleged work-related abuses being suffered by Ireland-based seafarers and nurses. 

Villafuerte is the majority leader of the powerful CA. 

Villafuerte also proposed to Espiritu—a former ambassador to Pakistan and the current Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) assistant secretary at its Office of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Affairs—to give priority to securing investment deals for the Philippines, particularly in the areas of renewable energy (RE) development, electronics, and dairy and meat trade. 

Espiritu assured the former Camarines governor that he would, as ambassador, strive to secure not only an OFW protection accord between the two nations but also Irish investment deals, especially in RE development. 

Villafuerte pointed out that one of the 16 wind farms about to be put up in Camarines Sur was the 90 megawatt (MW) joint venture (JV) of Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPower) with the Dublin-based Mainstream Renewable Energy Corp. (MREC) in the municipality of Libmanan.  

“As our new ambassador, you should work with your counterpart (in Ireland) to make a labor agreement formal,” Villafuerte told Espiritu during the most recent meeting of the CA c

Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

“And we hope, as ambassador, you continue to attract RE investors from Ireland to the Philippines,” added the veteran solon. 

The CA, in an en banc session later, confirmed the ad interim appointments of the 28 DFA officials led by Espiritu. 

As per Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) data, the Philippines has labor agreements with 21 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).