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ABOUT 150,000 Filipinos are competing for jobs in South Korea as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
prepares to deploy the first batch of workers to this East Asian country next week. POEA administrator Rosalinda Baldoz said
the number of applicants filed with the POEA from May to June was way above the 6,000 slots given to Filipino workers during
the one-year period starting next month. The Philippines. a primary labor-sending country, has about 2,500 workers leaving
everyday for jobs abroad. She said the POEA had built up a manpower pool of about 150,000 after opening windows for OFWs (overseas
Filipino workers) interested in jobs in South Korea at the POEA office on Ortigas Avenue in Mandaluyong City. The lines
for the South Korea window extended up to across SM Megamall on the last week of receiving applications.
"Now we have a lot of extra people...There are so many who need jobs," Baldoz told the Inquirer in a phone interview. The
applications have been encoded in the POEA database for access by prospective employers. The Philippines is the first country
to forge a deal with the Korean Ministry of Labor to get a quota of jobs every year. Most of the jobs are in South Korea's
manufacturing and construction sectors. South Korea alooted 6,000 slots for Filipino workers and other 2,000 trainees from
August 2004 to August 2005. OFWs to be deployed after August 2005 should pass a Korean language proficiency test. Baldoz said
the employers preferred Filipinos who have worked abroad. The other priority is for former OFWs who have worked in South Korea
without a permit and have been repatraited on an amnesty. She said the Philippines was also eyeing the Taiwan market, which
has opened 15,000 jobs for overseas workers. The POEA is set to launch a marketing campaign in Taiwan to get a huge portion
of that market.
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