An April 14, 2011 press release by the Department of Labor and Employment
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz announced yesterday that the country’s largest raw sugar producer, Roxas Holdings, Inc. (RHI), has expressed strong interest in hiring displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Libya to fill up numerous vacancies in its sugar mills in Nasugbu, Batangas and in La Carlota, Negros Occidental.
Baldoz made the announcement following the courtesy visit of RHI president and CEO Ramon Picornell, Jr. at the DOLE in Intramuros, Manila. Also with Picornell were VP for RHI’s vice president for human resources Elizabeth Nasol and Schubert Caesar Austero and Arthur Florentin of the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP).
RHI, the largest raw sugar producer and second largest producer of refined sugar, as well as the first fully integrated sugar mill and bio-ethanol distillery complex in the Philippines, produces sugar at Central Asucarera Don Pedro Inc. in Nasugbu, Batangas and at Central Asucarera De la Carlota Inc. in La Carlota, Negro Occidental. It holds a 45 percent equity in Hawaiian-Philippine Company, another sugar mill based in northern Negros Occidental.
“RHI president and Ramon Picornell Jr., personally came to us to declare their company’s firm intention of employing displaced OFWs from Libya to fill up the manpower requirements of its sugar mills in Batangas and Negros Occidental,” Baldoz said, as she profusely thanked RHI for committing to support the DOLE in assisting the displaced OFWs.
She said the RHI adds up to the growing number of local companies which have expressed desire to hire displaced OFWs from Libya. These firms include AG&P in Batangas, several mining firms in CARAGA, Jardine Engineering Corporation, and member-firms of the European Chamber of Commerce, and the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc.
Already, RHI has reached out to 145 Libyan repatriates-engineers from a list of 625 OFWs provided by the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO).
“The highly skilled OFWs from Libya are in demand. They are what the RHI needs for the manpower requirements of its sugar mills,” Baldoz said adding that RHI wants to hire at least 100 chemical, mechanical, and electrical engineers.
Baldoz said other positions RHI will fill up are refinery shift supervisor, boiling house shift supervisor, plant maintenance department assistant, electrical department superintendent, plant engineer, boiler assistant, boiler operations foreman, engineering services department superintendent, instrumentation technician, process analyst, production technical staff, boiling house assistant, boiler engineer, electrical supervisor, turbine generator engineer, production supervisor, and instrumentation engineer.
The DOLE chief said RHI has proposed a partnership arrangement with DOLE and PMAP in assisting the displaced OFWs, adding that the proposal would allow OFWs to work with RHI for a minimum of three months to a maximum of one year with the possibility of regularization depending on business requirements.
“The proposal is a welcome development for OFWs who may want to work locally for some time while waiting for another overseas deployment, or before deciding to apply for another job overseas,” she said.
She said, the DOLE and RHI, together with PMAP, will still discuss the details of the proposal before it can be implemented.
No comments:
Post a Comment