Philippine Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz will be in Doha for a three-day visit from November 21, to inaugurate the new Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) building, Ambassador Crescente Relacion told Gulf Times.
The labour secretary will also have a dialogue with officials and members of various Filipino organisations in Qatar before attending a conference in Kuwait.
A number of officials from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will join Baldoz during her visit.
Opened early this year, the new POLO building in Jelaiah area, houses other attached Philippine government agencies such as the Home Development Mutual Fund as well as the Social Security System.
With the ongoing massive infrastructure projects in the country, Baldoz hopes to find more opportunities for Filipino workers and professionals who want to seek greener pastures abroad.
Citing a record from the Ministry of Interior, the embassy estimates that around 200,000 Filipinos are now working in Qatar.
The labour secretary is also expected to meet officials and representatives of various recruitment and manpower agencies (with Philippine counterparts), to discuss different issues, concerns and challenges in the industry.
Asked if “contract switching’ and other irregularities in the recruitment of Filipino workers will be tackled at the dialogue, Relacion said such issues will be discussed during the Qatar-Philippines Joint Labour Committee. The ambassador hopes the meeting will convene before he leaves the country in March 2015.