Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Union of Catholic Asian News » News Archive » Laid-off Workers Shop For Jobs At Christmastime

Union of Catholic Asian News » News Archive » Laid-off Workers Shop For Jobs At Christmastime: "Daisy Rumbaoa’s expected return from Taiwan this Christmas season is causing her family worries.

The youngest child of a sickly carpenter is among thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who have lost their jobs as part of a global recession.

Relatives expect her to return this month, her father, Elpidio Rumbaoa, told UCA News on Dec. 6 at his home in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte province, 300 kilometers north of Manila.

“We pray that my daughter can find another job” overseas, the 60-year-old widower said. “She is our family’s hope.”

Latest records of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency show 6,800 land-based workers from the province were deployed abroad between 2005 and 2007.

Elpidio worries that even if Daisy found work in the Philippines, it would not pay enough for her to continue supporting the family. His daughter has a degree in engineering but failed the Philippine board exams. She left two years ago and has been working in a factory in Taiwan.

Her salary there has enabled her to send home money for her father’s medical expenses and high-school tuition fees of her nieces and nephews.

The Taiwan chapter of Migrante International, an OFW alliance, recorded 2,054 workers as"

No comments: