By Ferdinand Patinio/PNA
MANILA — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is looking to meet this week with other government agencies to discuss the policies on the issuance of Alien Employment Permit (AEP) to foreigners working in the country.
“Actually we are going to have an inter-agency meeting where we would like to request all the other agencies granting work permits and special visas. If possible, when it comes to employment matters, the DOLE must be the one to decide who can work here in the country,” Bello said in a press briefing Monday.
The other agencies that give working permit to foreign nationals are the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for geoscience and mining industry; the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) for the practice of regulated professions; and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for nationalized or partially nationalized industries.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) is in charge of granting pre-arranged employment visa (9G) for foreign workers.
With this, Bello assured that foreign workers will not be a threat to locals who are seeking employment.
“We will not give permits to any foreigners if the job they will be doing can be done by Filipinos,” he added.
Latest data from the Bureau of Local Employment showed that there are only 115,652 foreign nationals that were issued with AEPs.
