PHILIPPINE ambassador to Australia Hellen dela Vega on Thursday said displaced skilled Filipino workers who are still looking for opportunities abroad may start looking Down Under.
The diplomat said during the Laging Handa public briefing that land-based Filipinos in Australia have maintained their zero COVID-19 record even as the host country has already reported 8,886 confirmed cases with 106 deaths.
The 38 Filipino seafarers who were earlier reported to have been infected and underwent treatment have all been discharged and flown back to the Philippines, Dela Vega said.
“The encouraging news is, notwithstanding this COVID situation, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) have received job orders from Australian companies. This means interest on hiring Filipino workers is picking up again. We are hopeful that sooner, maybe before the year is over, our workers can start working here again,” Dela Vega said.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) had earlier said more than 60,000 former overseas Filipino workers have returned home while thousands more are hoping to catch flights back o their families as jobs started getting scarce due to the global economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.
Dela Vega said there are available jobs in construction, manufacturing, and agriculture, specifically cattle raising.
With majority of COVID cases recorded in the states of New South Wales and the Victoria, she said the Philippine consulates in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne have been forced to implement a work-from-home arrangement to keep their employees safe.
Based on embassy records, there are 120,000 Filipinos living and working in New South Wales and another P70,000 in the state of Victoria.
Dela Vega added that since January, the Philippine embassy has been the chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-Canberra committee.
“I requested Asean ambassadors to make a joint representation addressed to 40 universities in Australia as well as the state ministers of education to assist international students numbering at least 150,000. We are happy with the outcome. We received assurance from these institutions and state ministers about relief packages and support for the international students including 17,000 coming from the Philippines,” the ambassador said.
She called on Filipinos to continue looking forward as all countries in the world continue to battle the pandemic.
“We should not lose hope. This too will pass. This crisis that we never had any experience before… if we all anchor our response to regional and bilateral cooperation, we will overcome this,” she added.
