More job orders for OFWs in Taiwan

MANILA, Philippines -  A group of recruiters said yesterday that job orders for Filipino workers in Taiwan have intensified in the last two months despite the row over the deployment of 14 Taiwanese to Beijing two months ago.

In a statement, Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (PILMAT) president Jackson Gan said they expect Taiwanese employers to hire more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the coming months.

“The deployment of OFWs to Taiwan has intensified in the past two months and is expected to increase further,” he said.

According to Gan, Taiwanese employers particularly intend to hire before July 1 when income tax of foreign workers would increase from 10 percent to 20 percent.

“Prospective OFWs for Taiwan are being recruited and pre-selected by their employers rushing to beat the June 30, 2011 deadline so that these workers will not be taxed 20 percent starting July 1, 2011,” he added.

As many as 5,000 new and re-hire workers are expected to be deployed to Taiwan by June 30.   

PILMAT has called on the Department of Foreign Affairs to speed up processing of the passports of the workers so that they can be released before month’s end.