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RP govt to submit stance on NMI labor bill
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Posted on May 14 2004
The Philippine government will be coming out with its official position on the proposed legislative measure in the CNMI that seeks to significantly amend the law governing alien workers.
The Philippine Consulate General on Saipan also echoed the concerns raised by many Filipino workers on the bill’s provisions that practically eliminate employment transfers by alien workers whose work contracts expire.
The Philippine Overseas Labor Office on Saipan has transmitted a copy of the proposed measure to the Asian country’s Department of Labor and Employment, which will look into the bill’s provisions and submit its comments to CNMI House of Representatives.
Philippine Consul General Wilfredo Maximo disclosed these developments, as Filipino workers in the CNMI expressed opposition to certain provisions of House Bill 14-142, also known as the Alien Workers Act of 2004.
House Rep. Ray Yumul introduced the bill. All members of the House except for Rep. Janet Maratita have signed the bill.
A group of Filipino workers assembled Sunday near Jollibee restaurant in Garapan, a business establishment operated by Yumul’s family, to protest the measure.
A campaign to boycott the businesses owned by the Yumul family has also been circulating within the Filipino community in the CNMI. Filipinos in the CNMI number approximately 35,000. Together with the Chinese workers, they comprise the bulk of the CNMI’s nonresident workforce.
“We would have liked that consensual transfer of alien workers be retained by the proposed bill,” Maximo said.
Maximo said, however, that there are provisions in the measure that are favorable to the alien workers, including the lifting of the hiring moratorium.
“There are some parts of the bill that will pave the way for deployment of more Filipino workers in the CNMI with the projected lifting of the moratorium,” Maximo said. “More overseas Filipino workers can come here.”
