China to hire 300,000 Filipinos

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will finalise an agreement that will pave the way for China’s hiring of 300,000 overseas Filipino workers, including 100,000 Filipino English-speaking teachers, a senior official said.

“One of the contentious issues [that the two leaders are finalising] is the requirement by the Chinese government that they will accredit the [Chinese] schools that will issue the certification to our English teachers,” Philippine Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello said in China, transcript of which reached his office in Manila yesterday.

“We maintain the position that it should be the Philippines that will choose these schools or the colleges that will issue the certification [for the Filipino teachers who will be hired to teach English in China],” Bello said.

The Chinese government has offered $1,500 (P78,000 or Dh6,500) a month for a Filipino teacher, Bello said, adding that he and his counterpart scheduled a meeting to finalise the details of the hiring of OFWs.

The number of OFWs going to China could reach 300,000, said Bello adding that China’s Labour Ministry is also looking for Filipino cooks, caregivers, household service workers, musicians, and nurses.

China and the Philippines will forge a bilateral labour agreement to finalise plans to send 300,000 OFWs to China, said Bello. He did not give details.

The Philippines has been seeking bilateral agreements with all the countries where it sends OFWs.

Xi and Duterte will attend the Boao Forum in Hainan Province, Asia’s answer to the annual World Economic Forum hosted in Switzerland.