By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Suddenly the “New Zealand Dream” for more than 700 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) became a nightmare when they unexpectedly lost jobs before Christmas last year and good thing the Department of Migrant Workers is now providing financial assistance to them to tide over the crisis.
Maharlika NuMedia gathered that the OFWs found themselves jobless when ELE, described by the New Zealand government as a “skilled labor hire agency in the construction and manufacturing sector,” shut down unannounced just four days before Christmas.
“Yung DMW po very proactive yung stance dito. You know pa dati nangyari na po ito sa [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] so agad-agad nakipag-ugnayan tayo sa counterpart natin — yung [Migrant Workers Office] natin nakatutok,” DMW Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan said.
She disclosed that 107 affected OFWs have already received 1,050 New Zealand dollars (around P36,000) with another 72 set to receive the same.
“Hindi lang po ‘yan ‘yung financial na assistance is just one thing — ang importante po sa kababayan natin ay magkaroon pa rin sila ng trabaho diyan sa New Zealand,” Caunan said.
She said that “several employers” have reached out to the MWO saying they are interested in hiring the displaced Filipino workers.
“So kami naman po kung ganyan kaganda yung intention ng employer sa New Zealand, ipa-facilitate po namin yan lalo na kung makakatulong na magkakaroon ng trabaho doon,” she said.
The MWO in New Zealand has also reached out to various employers in the country to accommodate the displaced Filipino workers.
The OFWs lamented that ELE initially promised to pay their remaining salary but “until now” there was no news of when this would happen.
It was learned that most of the OFWs had not even been in New Zealand for more than a year.
(el Amigo/MNM)
