“We just have an offer from Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, and I’m getting a call from Canada because they want additional caregivers,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in an online forum Wednesday.
He said Canada is looking to hire 1,000 to 2,000 caregivers, while Romania is looking to hire nurses.“The moment the situation normalized, we will start deploying our teachers and skilled workers,” he said. “The market is growing. We just want to make sure that the country where we will deploy them are COVID-19-free because we also don’t want to expose them,” added Bello.
As of Dec. 9, the DOLE said the number of OFWs who have returned to the country due to the pandemic and who have been transported back to their respective provinces is already at 350,000.