China, a new destination for OFWs

RECENT records of the Philippine Statistics Authority show that there are 2.3 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

In 2016, OFWs sent home cash totaling $26.9 billion, which accounted for 9.8 percent of the gross domestic product.

For their substantial contribution to the economy, OFWs, especially those who have had to endure harsh employment conditions abroad, have been called our modern-day heroes.

Dramatically demonstrating the ordeal of our OFWs was the death

helper in Kuwait, allegedly in the hands of her employer.

The incident prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to ban deployment of new Filipino workers in Kuwait. The ban began to be lifted last May as Philippine and Kuwaiti officials signed a labor deal to protect the welfare of OFWs.

Still, the situation moved the government to look for other countries which could guarantee better employment conditions for Filipino workers.

President Duterte has pinpointed China as an emerging job market for Filipino migrant workers.

Together with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the President witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU) on the Employment of Filipino Teachers of English Language in China by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd and Chinese Ambassador to Manila Zhao Jianhua at the recent Boao Forum in Hainan, China.

“I welcome the opportunity to meet our (compatriots), report to them the developments at home and listen to their concerns and their hopes,” the President said during the forum, which serves as the Asian counterpart of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“As I am here for you, so am I also here for those who have left the country to support and provide a better future for their families,” Duterte added.

English teachers

There is a growing demand for English teachers in China, as children of middle-class Chinese need to learn the language to be able to study abroad. It is their means to be competitive in the global business arena, where English is the predominant language.

For their language courses, Chinese universities have been hiring highly paid American and British teachers. Still, China needs more to teach English as a Second Language as well as Business English in four-year Bachelor’s degree courses.

To meet the demand, many Chinese universities have been trying

teachers into their faculty, including Filipinos who are already President Rodrigo Duterte and his Special Assistant Christoper “Bong” Go give a warm welcome to a returning OFW and her family in a meeting in Davao City on April 14, 2018. OFWs have been called modern- day heroes.