WHEREAS, the challenging times require out-of-the-box, not-business-as-usual solutions;

WHEREAS, the POEA should be challenged by the challenging overseas employment environment into crafting aggressive overseas employment strategies that defy the trend of a constricting job market;

WHEREAS, an examination of the global examination map indicates that the sheer volume of requirements of new job markets, if properly exploited by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, is adequate to fill up the possible slack that may be caused by the constricting market in the traditional host countries such as the continental United States;

WHEREAS, several regions in Canada are at an unprecedented recruitment binge;

WHEREAS, a building boom in Guam will soon energize the recruitment of skilled Filipinos;

WHEREAS, the United Arab Emirates is not about to slow down on the hiring of Filipino expatriates;

WHEREAS, the recruitment of information technology (IT) professionals, those skilled in hard-core and embedded technologies, has intensified and has shown no sign of tapering off;

WHEREAS, the placement of Philippine merchant marine officers, from the ordinary able-bodied seamen to the prized vessel chief engineers and captains, has been on the rise despite the reported slowdown in the shipping business;

WHEREAS, a mere Philnits certification, the informal board examination for the Philippine IT professionals, is enough to secure a Japanese work visa;

WHEREAS, the best and the most competitive workers are the first to be recruited and the last-to be laid off:

WHEREAS, with world-class skills come tenure and job security;

WHEREAS, the aforementioned principle applies across the globe;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) shall execute a paradigm shift by refocusing its functions from regulation to full-blast markets development efforts, the exploration of frontier, fertile job markets for Filipino expatriate workers.

SECTION 2. Within the next few weeks, the POEA shall submit to the President a global employment map with emphasis on what can be called the Code Green areas, countries that are aggressively recruiting foreign workers, hence, natural deployment sites for Filipino expatriates.

SECTION 3. The Cabinet shall render full support to the POEA so it can aggressively deploy Filipino expatriates into the aforementioned Code Green countries with urgency and unbothered by institutional hurdles.

SECTION 4. The POEA shall update and expand its Rolodex on its country-contacts, global companies recruiting expatriate workers, international head hunters and manpower placement agencies with a global reach.

SECTION 5. The target shall be to increase the countries currently hosting Filipino workers and break through the 200-country barrier.

SECTION 6. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) shall recast its priorities in line with the aggressive labor marketing efforts of the POEA.

SECTION 7. TESDA shall intensify its skills retraining and skills upgrading program.

Done in the City of Manila on this 4th day of December 2008


By the President:

(Sgd.) EDUARDO R. ERMITA
Executive Secretary