MISAMIS ORIENTAL — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has warned the public against falling for advertised job vacancies in Ghana.
Ann Apasra S. Abas, officer-in-charge of POEA in Northern Mindanao, issued the order in the wake of reports by the Philippine Embassy in Ghana that some Filipinos have already been victimized by illegal recruiters and made to shell out placement fees for non-existent jobs in that country.
"At present, deployment to Ghana has been very minimal, averaging only 50 workers per year, with most of the jobs in the administrative and managerial fields," Abas said.
Moreover, the POEA has announced that the United Kingdom (UK) has removed general nurses from its shortage occupation list, retaining only those with specific field of specialization effective August 14 this year.
The new policy would mean that UK employees would have to satisfy first the resident labor market before they can recruit general nurses from abroad.
"Employers recruiting general nurses in UK will have to advertise any vacancy first and demonstrate to the Work Permit UK that they cannot fill the same with a UK applicant, or that no resident UK nationals were considered suitable for the job," Abas said.
However, the new policy will have no effect on nurses currently working in the UK, Abas said. The order does not also cover nurses for audiology, steep-respiratory physiology, neurophysiology, operating theater, clinical radiology, pathology, and critical care, she said. (Joel Escol)
