Department of Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said yesterday there is no need for legislation to address the problem of foreigners illegally working in the country or to remove from the Bureau of Immigration the authority to issue special working permits to foreigners.
“This issue can be addressed in a faster way without amending the law. There is a need for closer coordination between the BI and the Department of Labor and Employment,” he said.
Guevarra assured the implementation of additional measures to curb the entry of illegal alien workers.
Foreigners are issued SWPs to work in the country for three months and the permits could be extended for another three months.
For periods longer than six months and for highly technical, specialized, supervisory, and managerial jobs that cannot be filled up by Filipinos, foreigners are given alien employment permits by the DoLE.
Guevarra reacted to a suggestion made by Sen. Joel Villanueva who echoed the need for legislative action to address the problem of foreigners illegally working in the country during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development on the issue of illegal Chinese workers.
Villanueva faulted the BI for the alleged surge of Chinese workers illegally employed in the Philippine offshore gaming operations. The senator claimed the BI has no expertise to determine if job posts could be given to foreigners as he pointe out that the task should be left to the DoLE.
He said only AEPs from DoLE should be given to foreigners for jobs that cannot be met by Filipinos to ensure that local workers are not deprived of jobs which they can do themselves.
Guevarra said there are loopholes in the implementation of the law on foreign workers but this could be addressed through closer coordination between the BI, an attached agency of the DoJ, and DoLE.
He said: “It’s not a question of which agency should be solely responsible for the issuance of SWPs. The issue is how to tighten up the rules on SWPs. The BI and DoLE only need to work together on this.” (Rey Panaligan)
