MANILA – Filipinos can soon “object” to the hiring of a foreign worker in the Philippines for work that can be done by a local, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Friday, citing draft rules.
Some provisions under a proposed memorandum circular include the posting of the position and the foreign applicant for a month before the issuance of an alien employment permit, Bello told ANC.
“We will publish the name of the applicant and inform the public the work he’s applying for and we will give the public one month in order for any Filipino to object on the ground that he can do the work,” Bello said.
“So if somebody comes in say ‘no I can do that work, I want that work’ then we will not issue the alien employment permit,” he said.
Foreigners entering the Philippines for work should secure a working visa from their country of origin and a local tax identification number, Bello said.
Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier ordered the consolidation of the list of foreign workers in offshore gaming operations.
Bello said the country might be losing more than the Department of Finance’s earlier estimate of P3 billion in monthly tax payments from foreign workers due to “unrecorded illegal aliens.”
The interagency task force will convene on March 15 where the final Memorandum Circular is expected to be signed, Bello said. (ABS-CBN News)
