Job visa program launched in Cebu

MANILA, Philippines – About 1,400 Filipino workers in Cebu City are now assured of job security after their employers became recipients of the Special Visa for Employment Generation from the Bureau of Immigration.

In awarding the SVEG to the 25 foreign businessmen, Immigration Commissioner Nonoy Libanan said the Filipino workers need not worry about losing their jobs as their employers are now holders of indefinite visas.

Libanan said the purpose of the new visa is to encourage foreign businessmen to invest and do business in the Philippines. “More importantly, this visa aims to generate more employment opportunities for our countrymen, especially during trying times when we are feeling the effects of the global financial crisis,” Libanan said.

Libanan, together with Cebu City Acting Mayor Michael Rama, led the launching of the SVEG program in Cebu held last week at the Marco Polo Hotel. Various government officials, including consuls from the foreign consulates and representatives of foreign chambers in Cebu attended the project launching.

Dennis Mengote, immigration visa area director for Regions 7 and 8, said that 19 of the 25 foreigners who were issued SVEGs in Cebu are Korean nationals while the rest include a German, an American, an Austrian, a Japanese, a Pakistani, and a Taiwanese. Mengote said the foreigners represent 13 companies operating in Cebu which employ a combined total of 1,370 regular or full-time Filipino workers.

Under the rules, the SVEG shall be issued to a foreigner with an interest in a company that employs at least 10 full-time and regular Filipino workers either for managerial, executive, professional, technical, skilled or unskilled positions. – Rudy Santos