Job fair to greet residents of typhoon-hit Tacloban in 2014

A job fair will greet residents of Tacloban City in Leyte this year to provide employment to those heavily affected by super typhoon Yolanda in November.

“Due to the clamor of the people in the region, we will hold another job fair in Tacloban in the first week of January 2014,” said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz in a statement Wednesday.

A two-day job fair held by the Department of Labor and Employment in Ormoc city, which was also ravaged by Yolanda, last December benefited some 1,000 applicants. Of the number, 171 were hired on the spot while 970 were still subject to further processing.

Bureau of Local Employment director Dominique Tutay said those who were hired were engineers, accountants, food and beverage attendants, receptionists, site supervisors, nurses and household service workers.

“For those hired locally, they will be assigned in Manila and in export processing zones in Cavite, Bataan, and Laguna,” Baldoz said. “Their employers will advance the cost of their transportation subject to repayment.”

Lodging and accommodation will also be provided to those who will be hired, Baldoz added.

Overseas jobs were also offered in the job fair in Ormoc. Some 35 licensed overseas recruitment agencies brought in more than 10,000 job vacancies, while 11 local employers, including World Vision, an international organization, brought in 3,400.

Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) flattened town and cities in central Philippines on November 8, killing over 6,100 and leaving thousands more homeless and without livelihood. — Rouchelle Dinglasan/KBK, GMA News