JOB MARKETS FOR FILIPINO EXPATRIATE WORKERS

WHEREAS, the challenging times require out-of-the-box, not business-as-usual solutions;

WHEREAS, the POEA should be challenged by the challenging overseas
employment environment into crafting aggressive overseas employment
strategies that defy the trend of a constricting job market;

WHEREAS, an examination of the global examination map indicates that
the sheer volume of requirements of new job markets, if properly
exploited by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, is
adequate to fill up the possible slack that may be caused by the
constricting market in the traditional host countries such as the
continental United States;

WHEREAS, several regions in Canada are at an unprecedented recruitment binge;

WHEREAS, a building boom in Guam will soon energize the recruitment of skilled Filipinos;

WHEREAS, the United Arab Emirates is not about to slow down on the hiring of Filipino expatriates;

WHEREAS, the recruitment of information technology (IT)
professionals, those skilled in hard-core and embedded technologies, has
intensified and has shown no sign of tapering off;

WHEREAS, the placement of Philippine merchant marine officers, from
the ordinary able-bodied seaman to the prized vessel chief engineers and
captains, has been on the rise despite the reported slow down in the
shipping business;

WHEREAS, a mere Philnits certification, the informal board examination
for the Philippine IT professionals, is enough to secure a Japanese work
visa;

WHEREAS, the best and the most competitive workers are the first to be recruited and the last to be laid off;

WHEREAS, with world-class skills come tenure and job security; WHEREAS, the aforementioned principle applies across the globe;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the
Republic of the Philippines, by the powers vested in me by law, do
hereby order:

SECTION 1. The Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA) shall execute a paradigm shift by refocusing its
functions from regulation to full-blast markets development efforts,
the exploration of frontier, fertile job markets for Filipino
expatriate workers.

SECTION 2. Within the next few weeks, the POEA shall submit to the
President a global employment map with emphasis on what can be called
the Code Green areas, countries that are aggressively recruiting foreign
workers, hence, natural deployment sites for Filipino expatriates.

SECTION 3. The Cabinet shall render full support to the POEA
so it can aggressively deploy Filipino expatriates into the
aforementioned Code Green countries with urgency and unbothered by
institutional hurdles.

SECTION 4. The POEA shall update and expand its
Rolodex on its country-contacts, global companies recruiting
expatriate workers, international head hunters and manpower placement
agencies with a global reach.

SECTION 5. The target shall be to increase the countries currently
hosting Filipino workers and break through the 200-country barrier.

SECTION 6. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA) shall recast its priorities in line with the aggressive labor
marketing efforts of the POEA.

SECTION 7. TESDA shall intensify its skills retraining and skills upgrading program.

Adopted: 04 Dec. 2008

(SGD.) GLORIA M. ARROYO
President of the Philippines

BY THE PRESIDENT :

(SGD.) EDUARDO R. ERMITA
Executive Secretary