Philippines, S. Korea to sign bilateral labor deal

The Philippines and South Korea will sign a new bilateral labor cooperation agreement this week, following the success of an earlier two-year accord they signed in 2004, local media reported on Friday.

Philippine Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo Brion on Thursday left for South Korea to meet with his counterpart South Korean Labor Minister Lee-Sang Soo, for the signing of the new memorandum of understanding on the sending and receiving of workers under South Korea's employment permit system (EPS), The Manila Times reported.

Brion said that the proposed new memorandum with South Korea embodies a more extensive and well-defined provisions to ensure the conditions and well-being of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) chosen for employment in the South Korean economy.

The two-year provisions of the accord will affirm the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration as the primary Philippine government agency responsible for the sending of workers, and its counterpart South Korean Ministry of Labor as the primary government agency responsible for the screening and prequalifying of OFWs in South Korea, Brion said.

Brion earlier said that in 2006 alone, South Korea had already allocated a total of 10,000 available jobs for skilled, documented OFWs under the EPS.

A preliminary report of the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics said that in 2005, some 9,975 documented OFWs were deployed to South Korea. Meanwhile, the Occupational Safety and Health Center indicated that from Jan. 1 to Oct. 3, 2006, a total of 6,702 South Korea-bound OFWs have been trained on safe and healthy occupational practices.

Source: Xinhua