HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Officials from the Republic of the Philippines are on island this week to gain firsthand knowledge of how its government and Guam are able to process requests for Filipino workers to take jobs in the U.S. territory.
The visit of the “high-level delegation” stems from a trip made by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero to Manila in October. The governor invited officials from the Philippine to come to Guam to consider, among other things, requests “for a labor attaché to be stationed in Guam and to develop a country-specific employment contract, which would protect migrant workers while working in Guam,” the governor’s office stated.
Leon Guerrero welcomed a group led by Congressman Ron Salo, who chairs the committee on overseas workers in the Philippine House of Representatives. The formal invitation was sent Oct. 31.
The governor said in a letter to Philippine House Speaker Ferdinand Romualdez that the fact-finding mission will help show the “magnitude” of construction projects related to the relocation of Marines from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam.
“A visit will also provide Congressman Salo insight into the living and working conditions on Guam, which may assist the congressman in developing processes and protocols to amend the current processing of candidates for employment on Guam,” Leon Guerrero wrote in her letter.
Guam relies heavily on Filipino citizens to fill workforce demands in a number of skilled industries including construction. Over the years, drops in the approval of foreign worker visas and restrictive federal policies have contributed to longer time frames to complete projects and more expensive construction costs to developers and homeowners.
While decisions made by the U.S. government affect the way foreign workers are processed on Guam, these requests also must be vetted by the Republic of the Philippines, as well, through its Philippine Overseas Labor Office or POLO.
Ahead of this week’s visit, local employers of foreign workers were surveyed by the Guam Department of Labor about POLO, according to multiple sources in the construction industry and government of Guam.
While the survey’s specific questions were not shared with the Post, internal communications at the governor’s office disclosed some of what GovGuam hopes to accomplish with the delegation.
The governor’s office wants assistance with “Guam’s migrant worker shortage” and to “expedite a faster process for the workers to be able to come to Guam,” Alfredo Antolin, special assistant to the governor, wrote in an email about the visit.
“Guam has seen a dramatic increase in construction projects both inside and outside of the fence. Without these skilled workers from the Philippines supplementing our local workforce, we will not be able to fully realize Guam’s economic potential,” Leon Guerrero previously said of her discussions in Manila.
Antolin, in an email to the governor’s chief of staff Jon Junior Calvo, said one of the issues brought up by the governor during the October trip was her desire to have a Guam-based presence of POLO.
“The request was to get a POLO officer to be stationed on Guam, instead of going all the way to Los Angeles, California, the nearest POLO officer designated for Guam under the Philippine Consulate,” Antolin wrote. “There is a backlog of these migrant workers being processed in the Los Angeles POLO office.”
The delegation’s fact-finding mission began Monday, Krystal Paco-San Agustin, the governor’s director of communications, told the Post.
A multi-story building is seen Sept. 9 during its construction at Adelup next to the Ricardo J. Bordallo Governor’s Complex. Officials from the Republic of the Philippines will be on Guam this week to discuss issues with approving requests for foreign workers from the country for local projects.
