The Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) recently announced the new labor quota of 80,000 foreign workers for the year 2007. The figure would greatly affect the deployment of OFWs because the number excludes Filipino workers.

Acording to the president of the Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (Pilmat) Jackson Gan, the reason for the exclusion is mainly due to the Philippine government’s effort to establish close alliance with the People’s Republic of China.

In a phone interview, Gan said "We are now feeling the brunt of Taiwan's apparent retaliation for the Arroyo government's forging of closer ties with the Chinese government and this is not good for our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) deployment."

Gan also said that the new decision of Taiwan government is a great loss of employment opportunities for Filipinos because Taiwan has a big market for OFWs. Jobs for Filipinos in Taiwan are for factory workers, textile workers, domestic helpers, and construction workers. The new labor quota showing the distribution of allotted working visa per countries can be seen at the website of Taiwan’s CLA. “Filipinos not qualified” is the phrase written referring to the OFWs.

To negotiate with the Taiwan government, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) secretary Arturo Brion and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz are now in Taiwan hoping that the Taiwan government will reconsider their decision.

Brion and Baldoz also wish to discuss the new policy that slows down the hiring of Filipinos by Taiwan imposing additional requirements and stricter entry policies. The new rule started last September because of the reports from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Manila regarding the widespread falsification of papers of Filipinos entering Taiwan.