Teno to join NMI delegation to Manila

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio is planning to join the five-man CNMI delegation that will travel to Manila to formalize the amendments to the existing bilateral labor agreement with the Philippine government.

The scheduled November meeting was, however, temporarily moved to middle of December reportedly because of the arrival of Taiwanese government and aviation officials to Manila for talks on the air agreement between the Philippines and Taiwan.

Mr. Tenorio will be joined by CNMI Labor and Immigration Secretary Mark Zachares and three other Commonwealth labor officials in the formal signing of the amended labor agreement in the Philippine capital next month.

RP Labor Attaché lawyer Araceli Maraya said formal discussions on and signing of the bilateral labor agreement between Philippines and CNMI officials was previously slated on Nov. 20 and 21, but has been tentatively re-scheduled next month due to air agreement talks with Taiwan.

Amendments to the existing RP-CNMI labor agreement include the official closure of the Commonwealth’s Manila Liaison Office which was aimed to prevent the entry of undocumented Filipino workers into the Northern Marianas.

Ms. Maraya said changes in the 1994 MOU, which paved the way for the establishment of the CNMI Liaison Office in Manila and the Filipino Workers Resource Center on Saipan, had been agreed by officials from both governments last July.

Closure of the liaison office will significantly reduce the processing and documentation period of all Northern Marianas-bound Filipino workers since their papers will be coursed direct to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

Ms. Maraya also pointed out that CNMI immigration personnel detailed at the Saipan International Airport will require incoming Filipino workers to show their POEA-issued Overseas Employment Certificate.

She explained that the new process will stop the scrupulous practice by some workers who come in as tourists and later on look for employment without documentation from the Philippine government.

She stressed that the amended bilateral labor agreement between the Commonwealth and the Philippine governments has been polished to provide better protection to Filipino workers in the CNMI.

Philippines and CNMI labor officials have agreed to amend the existing Memorandum of Agreement during a recent consultative meeting by Labor Undersecretary Felicisimo Joson with Mr. Tenorio and other Commonwealth officials.

Philippines labor officials have lauded the reforms undertaken by the Tenorio Administration which, they said, reaffirms the Commonwealth’s commitment at providing migrant workers here with adequate means of protection against labor abuses.