Day: June 8, 2023

The Israeli government is working with Manila to ensure that Filipino caregivers are getting the benefits due to them before resuming their deployment to Israel. Israel Ambassador to Manila Ilan Fluss said deployment for Filipino caregivers was interrupted in October 2022 due to an Israeli regulation that sought to establish a framework that will ensure these workers get the same services other local and foreign employees get in the country. ‘The workers in Israel, it doesn’t matter if they’re a foreigner, they get the same rights and obligations but due to the challenge that the caregivers are employed directly by the elderly person or the disabled person, it is more complicated how to make sure that there is an entity behind to take care of the different issues that are arising either for the elderly person or for the caregiver,” he said in an interview with reporters on Thursday. ‘[T]here was a basket of services that a caregiver should get and then the caregivers have to pay for those basket of services. This was the issue, which had to be sorted out,’ he added. Fluss clarified that there is no deployment ban in place and that Israel and relevant Philippine government agencies are merely working to find a way forward concerning the issue. ‘The moment we finished the technical discussions and understanding it can (re)start immediately. So there is no deadline,’ he said. The regulation, he added, has no effect on Filipino caregivers already in Israel as well as OFWs in other fields of work. ‘For hotel workers, the employers are responsible for everything. The challenge with the caregivers is that the employee is an individual, it’s not a company that has an HR that takes care of everything,” he said. “So that was the issue. How do we take care of caregivers when they’re working, but there’s no really institution,’ he added. Fluss reiterated that they continue to recognize the contribution made by the over 30,000 Filipinos working as caregivers in Israel. He emphasized that Israel is committed to ensuring their security and welfare while citing the growing people-to-people relations between the two states. Fluss’ statement followed the historic visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to Manila this week, which signaled Israel’s renewed interest to forge stronger cooperation with the Philippines in various areas, including economic, labor, and defense, among others.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Over 5,000 vacancies will be offered in two job fairs in Central Visayas on the 125th Independence Day, a Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) official on Thursday said. Lilia Estillore, DOLE-7 regional director, said the job fair will be held simultaneously on June 12 in the cities of Cebu and Dumaguete, with various establishments signifying their interest to give opportunities to job seekers. The agency has partnered with the Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) in organizing the Kalayaan Job Fairs to be held at the SM Seaside City Cebu and the Robinsons Place- Dumaguete City. Estillore said as of Thursday, the regional labor office has 5,245 vacant positions up for grabs on the two separate job fairs. There will be at least 2,317 openings from 30 participating employers available for applicants from this capital city while 2,078 local jobs and 850 overseas employment postings for Dumaguete job hunters. Jobs to be opened in Cebu City are health care associates, retail associates, service crew, social media specialists, customer service and outbound sales representatives. In Dumaguete City, job hunters can choose to apply for customer service representatives, production support crew, and ESL teachers. Job seekers will be provided with transportation assistance as the agency partnered with the Cebu City Department of Manpower Development and Placement, ride-hailing agency Angkas, and MyBus. Using the promo code (AKSXDMDP), passengers or job seekers will get PHP25 off on their rides using the said ride-hailing app operator. Applicants are advised to bring documents such as biodata, 2×2 ID picture, and certificate of employment, if available. ‘Through this initiative, we hope to produce more hired on the spot or HOTS thereby freeing them from unemployment or underemployment,’ Estillore told the Philippine News Agency. (

Source: Philippines News Agency

In line with the government’s goal to fully energize the country, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Raphael Lotilla has urged the country’s development partners to participate in building transmission infrastructure across the nation. In his keynote speech at the World Bank’s launch of Philippine Economic Update: Securing a Clean Energy Future in Taguig City Thursday, Lotilla said it is crucial to start building up transmission infrastructure in the country by cooperating with development partners such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to deliver electricity, especially in the remote areas. Citing the Marcos administration’s Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, the government targets to upgrade the transmission and distribution lines to support an efficient to clean energy. “The tragedy of Negros Island where you have 80 megawatts of stranded power is one that we do not wish to be replicated in the rest of the country and it has not been in that state for five to 10 years now,” Lotilla said. The DOE chief said the time to invest in transmission is now to prepare the infrastructure once the additional capacity of clean energy comes in the coming years. “I pose the challenge for our development partners therefore to be up to speed in delivering the needed transmission capabilities,” he said. Lotilla said there is also an opportunity to synergize transmission lines with other infrastructure projects like bridges to lower the cost of building up parallel transmission lines. “So, the potential for building bridges, whether it’s across Manila Bay, Guimaras, Negros, Panay, and Pangil Bay, these are opportunities for building new transmission lines, along with the rights of way that are going to have been identified for the new BOT (build-operate-transfer) and PPP (public-private partnership) projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways. So, we see synergies here,” he added.

Source: Philippines News Agency