AROUND 3,000 unregistered Chinese workers are currently working in a construction firm without alien employment permits (AEP), the country’s biggest labor organization said yesterday. In a press release, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said the Chinese are working in Batangas and Bataan under a “multinational private contractor.”
Sought for details, TUCP Spokesperson Alan A. Tanjusay declined to give specifics saying they are still in the process of verifying some information.
TUCP said the scheme allegedly involved the application of AEPs for 300 individuals but the unnamed contractor would “employ hundreds of other foreign workers.”
“Weak enforcement and lack of enforcers of labor laws allows the issue to persist,” TUCP said in a statement.
“This phenomenon has very serious adverse implications not only in the local construction industry but also in the current unemployment and underemployment situation in the country,” Gerard Seno, executive vice-president of the Associated Labor Unions-TUCP, was quoted as saying in the release.
“If this phenomenon is not addressed immediately, it will undermine the entire job security in our country,” Mr. Seno added.
Officials from the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) were not available for comment as of press time.
The Labor Secretary, through its regional director who has jurisdiction over the applicant, issues the AEP to allow foreign nationals to work in the Philippines.
The AEP is valid for a year or coterminous with the duration of the employment.
With 1.2 million members, TUCP is the biggest confederation of labor federations in the Philippines.
It was founded in 1975 by 23 labor federations which saw the necessity and importance of uniting themselves into a strong and dynamic labor center.
The TUCP, is currently composed of almost 30 federations with members in all sectors and industries from agriculture, manufacturing and services sector. -- Mikhail Franz E. Flores
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