50 more laid off OFWs to return from Taiwan

MANILA, Philippines - Fifty more Filipino workers who were laid off in Taiwan due to the global financial crisis are set to return to the Philippines. In an e-mail to media, Migrante International on Thursday said that the workers were formerly employed by Sintek Corporation, a semi-conductor company in Taiwan. It added that the 31 will arrive late Thursday while the other 19 are set to return on Friday. As of February 24, a total of 5,774 Filipino workers have been reportedly laid off from their work abroad, of which 4,375 have reportedly returned to the Philippines since October 2008. The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), the country’s de-facto embassy in Taiwan, said as of the end of January, it had already assisted 4,740 displaced overseas Filipino workers from 95 companies mainly from the manufacturing sector. It had also reportedly facilitated the entry of some 4,445 new workers to Taiwan over the same period, for a net job loss in Taiwan of only 295. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV