Philippine Labor Group Backs Visa-For-Jobs Plan

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 20, 2008) - The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Saturday it is backing the Bureau of Immigration's proposal to establish a new visa program that would allow qualified foreigners to stay indefinitely in the country, provided they invest here and fully employ at least 10 Filipinos.

"The plan jibes with our prior proposal for the government to lead in jobs creation, and for all agencies to consciously use their policies and programs to generate badly needed new employment," said Ernesto Herrera, TUCP secretary-general.

TUCP has been pushing for a national employment plan that would mandate every agency and state-owned firm to carry out more labor-intensive projects. To make sure these agencies do, Herrera said Congress should consider as factors for approving their annual budgets not only their performance, but also the number of jobs they were able to provide in the prior year.

The immigration office intends to adopt a new visa program wherein a foreigner who invests here and directly engages at least 10 Filipinos workers would be extended the privilege of an indefinite stay. The plan is awaiting approval by Malacañang, which is expected to issue an executive order on the guidelines, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said.

As proposed, the special non-immigrant visa may be issued to certain classes of aliens in viable and sustainable professional, micro-macro financing, entrepreneurial, corporate, banking, scientific, technological, industrial, telecommunications, teletranscriptions, eco-tourism, medico-pharmaceutical, herbal-therapeutic and commercial enterprises.

Herrera stressed that under the Constitution, the government is "duty-bound to promote full employment to ensure a rising standard of living for all Filipinos."

"The government should ensure maximum jobs creation in every public project. Each agency should be compelled to set achievable employment targets. Then an inter-agency panel should monitor performance in terms of jobs creation," Herrera said.

As to the private sector, Herrera said loan applications with government financial institutions as well as petitions for tax incentives with the Board of Investments should be approved based on the number of jobs the projects to be funded or new ventures would create.

He said government should focus on infrastructure projects that have the highest job-creation potential and generate the greatest returns. He said these projects, such as farm-to-market roads, irrigation facilities, mass transit systems and schools, are also urgently needed.

Whether such projects involve new construction or maintenance, Herrera said they provide direct employment, help lower cost of production and consequently, also lower the prices of goods.

In a country with high rates of joblessness and underemployment, capital-intensive methods of production are highly questionable, according to Herrera, also former chairman of the Senate labor, employment and human resources development committee.

"Jobs provide people with incomes that enable them to buy goods and services or to save. The increase in consumption stimulates the market, revives the economy and provides revenue for government. And the accumulation of savings provides funds for investment," Herrera added.

Earlier this week, the National Statistics Office reported that the country's unemployment rate stood at 7.4 percent as of July 2008, with a total of 2.75 million Filipinos considered totally jobless. The percentage of underemployed Filipinos, or those who have jobs but want to work more, increased to 21 percent of total employed, it said.

Foreigners Illegally Working In RP Warned

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 09, 2008) – The Philippines is alarmed by the rising numbers of foreigners illegally working in the country.The Bureau of Immigration said it received many complaints, especially against foreign architects, interior designers and planners who work in the country without permits.

"We have been receiving numerous complaints, including those originating from media sources, with respect to the growing number of foreign architects, interior designers and planners apparently unlawfully practicing their craft here, to the detriment of Filipino professionals," Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said.

In some cases, he said, these foreigners were even conspicuously credited in press releases and other publicity materials distributed by local property developers to the media. "We are definitely taking these complaints very seriously," Libanan said.

Libanan said these foreigners not only unfairly prejudice their Filipino counterparts, but also deprive the government of tax revenue. He said the government has been cheated of potential value-added, withholding, and income tax revenues on the professional fees raked in by the foreigners.

"We must stress that we welcome foreign professionals who visit the country, or wish to become permanent residents here. However, if they decide to practice their profession here, they must first obtain the necessary licenses and permits," Libanan said.

He said foreign interior designers, planners and architects, including so-called landscape architects, should first obtain the proper work permits from the Department of Labor and Employment.

"They should also make sure that they are duly licensed here by the Professional Regulatory Commission before they may lawfully engage in the practice of their profession here," he said.

Review Tourists Visa Extension Order, RP Immigration Told

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 11 Aug) - Senator Mar Roxas called on the Bureau of Immigration to review a recent order that allows foreigners to extend their temporary visitors visas up to 16 months, saying this ran counter to the government’s crackdown on terrorism.

“While we are all in favor of courting tourists to visit our country, we must be mindful that too much leniency is also not good for our national security,” Roxas said in a statement sent Saturday to the Mindanao Examiner.

Roxas said that immigration policies should also be attuned to global realities and local concerns such as the campaign against terror and transnational crimes.

He noted efforts around the world to shore up defenses against terrorists and transnational criminal syndicates through immigration reforms and better security and intelligence efforts.

He said it is best to modernize and strengthen the Bureau of Immigration and other frontline agencies that deal with tourists and foreign investors before government loosens its grip on tourist arrivals.

Roxas also pointed out the irony in granting foreigners unhampered and therefore unaccountable freedom to stay in the country for more than a year while government wields the Human Security Act like a sword of Damocles on its people.

“I recall that the Bureau of Immigration made it clear that countless foreign nationals were overstaying. Should we now, as a matter of policy, legitimize these overstaying foreigners, some of who have even managed to set up small businesses in the countryside, by declaring them almost as perpetual tourists?”

But Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, of the Bureau of Immigration, said the extension of temporary visitors’ visas is intended to further promote tourism in the country.