The Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development is considering the removal of the Bureau of Immigration’s authority to issue special working permits to foreigners.
Sen. Joel Villanueva, committee chairman, said this as the panel yesterday held its second hearing on the influx of illegal foreign workers in the Philippines in which he stressed the “lenience” of the BI in issuing SWPs to foreign nationals who intend to work here.
Villanueva blamed the BI for surge of illegal foreign workers in the country, which comprise mostly of Chinese employed in Philippine offshore gaming operations.
An SWP allows foreign workers to work in the country for three months and could be extended for another three months.
Villanueva is proposing that the Department of Labor and Employment be the sole agency to issue SWP.
The BI, according to the senator, has no capability to vet whether or not job posts should be given to foreign nationals who want to work in the country, despite pronouncements that Filipinos do not have enough skills to fill the vacancies.
“What we want is the BI will cease the issuance of SWPs,” Villanueva told reporters.
He added the government, through the DoLE, should only be giving alien employment permits to ensure that the employment opportunities given to foreign workers are not being “taken away” from Filipinos who can do the jobs equally.
AEPs are given by the DoLE to foreign nationals who have jobs that are highly technical, specialized, supervisory, and managerial and cannot be fulfilled by the Philippine job market. Unlike the SWPs, these are issued for employment lasting for more than six months.
“We are not undermining the authority of BI in issuing work visas but work permits – as the name dictates – and Alien Employment Permits, ‘eh talagang DoLE ‘yan,” Villanueva said, adding that it is stated in the country’s Labor Code. (Vanne Terrazola)