Bello to hold talks for deployment of Filipino caregivers, nurses to China

Bello (Rey Baniquet/Presidential Photo)

Manila—The Philippines and China will hold “exploratory talks” next week on the possible deployment of Filipino health workers to the mainland, according to Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

Bello said he will visit China from April 24 to 27 to meet with his Chinese counterpart to discuss the possible deployment of Filipino medical workers, like caregivers and nurses.

“I’ll go to China for a possible meeting with the Minister of Labor to discuss possible labor relations,” the labor chief said in an interview last night (April 16).

“What we will have is just exploratory talks,” he added.

Bello said the warming labor relations between China and the Philippines also comes as Manila plans to open three Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) in the mainland.

“We are putting up one in Beijing, one in Shanghai, and one in Shenzhen,” Bello said.

He said they are looking to make the three POLOs, which will assist overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), would open before June. There are an estimated 200,000 Filipinos currently working in the mainland.

Last year, Manila and Beijing signed a bilateral agreement for the deployment of at least 2,000 English teachers to the mainland from the Philippines.

Their salary would range from US$1,400 to US$1,600 (or P74,000 to P84,000) and the contract may be renewed after two years. As of February, the two countries were still negotiating the contents of the standard employment contract for teachers.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has promoted China as an alternative labor market for OFWs, especially for those working in the Middle East.