MANILA, Philippines – Despite repeated assurances from the government that the problem is still manageable, a senior member of the Arroyo Cabinet warned of more retrenchment of Filipino workers from their jobs both here and abroad mainly due to the worsening global economic and financial crunch.
Secretary Marianito Roque of the Department of Labor and Employment aired the warning after he received a formal notice from Japan’s information technology system firm Fujitsu Limited of its plan to lay off effective in April about 1,750 of the workers in its plant in Laguna province in Southern Luzon as a result of the global crisis.
Roque said the Fujitsu notice would bring to 45,000 the total number of Filipinos to be retrenched by mostly foreign companies which are operating in the Philippines since the financial meltdown unfolded in 2008.
He said workers have been offered early retirement packages to leave Fujitsu Computer Products Corporation, which makes disk drives.
But Roque added he was assured that close to 3,000 workers would remain with the Fujitsu plant located in Calamba City in Laguna.
The labor secretary also disclosed that several Japanese shipping companies have informed him of their plan to retrench Filipino sailors due to the acute lack of demand for cargo vessels.
He admitted, however, that his office does not have the exact number of the Filipino seafarers who are to be laid off by their Japanese employers.
Ericson Marquez, the chairman of the Manila-based Joint Manning Group, confirmed that due to the worsening economic meltdown, more Filipino seamen working abroad would be repatriated in the next six months.
Marquez explained there has been a significant drop in demand for cargo and container ships which have many Filipino crewmen.
Compounding the problem, Roque pointed out, is the projected entry into the labor force of about 500,000 Filipinos who are to graduate from college and high school in March or early April.
He said there are companies opening up in the country’s export zones but admitted they could not easily absorb the new graduates.
Earlier, the National Statistics Office reported based on its latest survey, nine million of the total population of 90 million Filipinos are either jobless or underemployed.
Officials warned the number is expected to grow as they pointed out they expect 800,000 people to lose their jobs, mainly in the electronics and clothing sectors, before the economic downturn eases.
In a related development, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto assured that the government is pushing for the quick deployment of retrenched overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to countries that are not seriously affected by the crisis.
Recto said these efforts are being undertaken to mitigate the growing problem of rising unemployment among the OFWs who have been retrenched from their jobs, especially from Taiwan, South Korea and neighboring countries in Asia and the Pacific.
He said that, despite the crisis, there remains a strong demand for OFWs from countries in the Middle East that responded to the crisis by pump priming and spending on infrastructure projects.
Recto also cited a report from the National Economic and Development Authority, where he is the director general, which showed there are “new markets” for OFWs in Guam, New Zealand and Southern Australia.
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