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| Reference Material |
| English no longer Filipinos� sole pride By Cher Jimenez, Reporter May 6, 2002, Today FILIPINO migrant workers will now be trained in the English language because other nationalities are catching up on language proficiency, which is a major asset in the international labor market. Administrator Wilhelm Soriano of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said the government has noticed that the country�s Asian neighbors are slowly getting an edge in the foreign labor market which was long dominated by Filipino workers because of their (English) language skills. �Our Asian neighbors are catching up in English language proficiency and this is alarming. We are asking the government to wake up and give notice to this matter by upgrading our facilities and giving importance to the teaching of English,� Soriano said. For instance, he said, the employment of Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong has increased to 20% because of their willingness to accept lower salaries and their improved English���.. Beside Hong Kong, Filipino domestic workers� dominance in Singapore is also being threatened by housekeepers from India and Bangladesh, according to Soriano���.. ***** |