PRESIDENT ARROYO LOOKS FORWARD TO MEETING WITH HK OFWs
HONG KONG, MARCH 31, 2008 (MALACANANG) via PLDT -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo awaits with eager anticipation her meeting with what she described as the “precious” overseas Filipino workers (OFW) here numbering some 123,545.
Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in this special administrative region (SAR) of China are first on the must-meet list of the President during her three-day working visit that starts today (Sunday, March 30).
“Our trip to Hong Kong is dedicated to meeting with our strong OFW contingent in Hong Kong,” the President said in her departure statement in Manila.
“We are… taking the opportunity to meet with our precious OFWs and introduce a series of programs… to mitigate (the effects of) the strengthening of the peso against the dollar,” the President said. Her first engagement here is a meeting with the HK-based OFWs at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at 7 tonight.
To be unveiled by the President to the HK-based OFWs are four bank programs aimed at providing the OFWs and their beneficiaries secure, fast and reliable remittance and savings programs, as follows:
The OFW Hedging Program (Peso Insurance and Peso Protect) and i-Net Negosyo Program of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP); and the Long-Term Negotiable Certificate of Deposit (LTNCD) and OFW Cash Card of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).
As of yearend 2007, some 123,545 Filipinos worked as household service workers (HSW) here, down from the 2001 peak of 155,485.
It may be recalled that the President has been trying to stem the brain drain in the country by inviting billion-dollar international business locators to the Philippines so Filipino workers could work at home and be nearer their families instead of going abroad to look for jobs.
Filipino HSWs first entered HK in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. In comparison with other labor-importing countries, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, the HK-SAR has a “generally favorable working environment.”
Unlike Filipino workers in some other countries abroad, OFWs in HK are covered by the Hong Kong Employment Ordinance which grants foreign hires the same rights as local workers.
The monthly salary of foreign domestic helpers (FDH) here is HK$3,480 or higher. The amount is lower than the former minimum wage for FDHs of HK$3,670 which the HK government lowered to HK$3,270 in 2003 when this former British colony reeled from an economic downturn compounded by the SARS epidemic.
Also in 2003, HK had announced the imposition of HK$400 levy on all FDH employers for a re-training program for unskilled local workers.
The Philippine Consulate, together with several FDHs and concerned groups, had pushed for a judicial review of the HK policy but the HK Court of First Instance (CFI) dismissed the argument that the levy and the lowered FDH wages were related.
The group appealed the decision, but lost in the HK CFI.
There are also a “notable number of Filipino professionals in HK,” according to the Philippine Consulate which identified the “significant minority” of HK-based Filipino professionals as “architects and civil engineers, some of them involved in more prominent buildings and construction projects in HK; information technology professionals; and professionals in accounting, law and finance.”
Many of the professionals have grouped themselves into organizations such as the Builders, HK Musicians’ Union, Philippine Association of HK, and the Bankers Club. TOP
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PGMA faces busiest day in HK tomorrow
HONG KONG (via PLDT) – Her keynote address at the 11th Asian Investment Conference (AIC), two separate interviews by leading writers of International Herald Tribune and Reuters, and the High Tea Roundtable with Fund Managers will highlight the second day of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s three-day working visit here Monday, March 31.
At 11 a.m. tomorrow, Don Greenless, a top writer of International Herald Tribune, will conduct a one-on-one interview with the President on various domestic and international issues.
This shall be followed by another no-holds-barred interview with the President by Umesh Desai, chief correspondent for Asia, Fixed Income, of Reuters.
Both interviews will be held at the Presidential Suite of Grand Hyatt Hotel where the President and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo are staying.
After her Credit Suisse luncheon keynote speech at the 11th AIC to be held at Main Ballroom of Conrad International Hotel with question-and- answer portion, the courtesy call by the Congep Group, headed by Willie Tan, chair and CEO, Luen Thai Private Group of Companies, shall follow at 3:30 p.m. at the Presidential Suite.
At 5 p.m., the President’s High Tea Roundtable with Fund Managers will be held at Grand Hyatt where she is expected to offer the Philippines as the best investment destination in Southeast Asia today. TOP
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PGMA off to HK to keynote investment conference, meet with OFWs
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo brings with her the best of what the Filipino and the Philippines can offer when she addresses the 11th Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference (AIC) in Hong Kong from March 30 (Sunday) to April 1 (Tuesday).
The President is expected to make a strong pitch for the country as a valued investors’ destination in the Asia-Pacific region to some 1,500 investors from all over the world, including representatives of the top 300 companies in the region.
In her departure statement this afternoon, the President stressed that “it is imperative that we stay focused on continuing to strengthen our economy through aggressive outreach to investors and to enhance our cooperation with governments in the region like Hong Kong at a time when the Philippine economy is at its strongest in over 30 years.”
“As a result of our economic program in the Philippines, we have diversified our economy, built up our foreign reserves, stimulated a surge of foreign investment and made heavy government investments in human and physical infrastructure. We have done all this while having the strongest balance sheet in a generation, including being on the verge of a balanced budget,” the President added.
In an interview before boarding the Philippine Airlines (PAL) commercial flight for Hong Kong, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said the President will present to the world business leaders the Philippines as the “best value for foreign investments” in the region.
Aside from keynoting the AIC, the President will also meet with the Filipino community in the former Crown Colony, and walk them through several programs designed to protect their remittances from the harsh effects of fluctuating exchange rate and the strengthening peso.
A representative of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) will discuss its Peso Hedging Program, while the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) will present its “i-Net Negosyo” program and OFW Cash Card.
The DBP said its Peso Hedging Program, which consists of the “Peso Insurance” and “Peso Protect,” will give “OFWs the opportunity to mitigate the effects of the Philippine peso appreciation vis-à-vis their US dollar remittances or the equivalent in US dollars.”
Peso Insurance is “an agreement where the OFWs can sell their US dollars at prevailing exchange rate on maturity or at the selected protection rate if the peso appreciates and the OFW pays an insurance fee,” DBP explained.
On the other hand, Peso Protect is “an agreement whereby the exchange rate (forward rate) at which OFWs will sell their US dollars in the future is already determined beforehand, and the OFW pays no fee but has to place a hold-out deposit refundable after the delivery of the contract amount to the DBP.”
The DBP also has an “i-Net Negosyo” program which is a “loan facility offered to eligible OFWs for the setting up of a mini ‘internet station’ via SMART wireless broadband or other telecom internet service provider offering similar packages.”
Joining the President on her trip is First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, Trade Secretary Peter Favila, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves and other government officials.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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