JPEPA – Good for Philippine Economy But Disadvantageous To Filipino Nurses?
Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA has been ratified by the Senate last week in spite of the many opposition and disgusto about it since it started in the lower house plenary. JPEPA boasts to help the ailing economic relationship with Japan heal its wounds.
Senators approving the treaty believed JPEPA needs to be ratified, otherwise, Japanese foreign direct investment and earnings from Philippine exports to Japan may go to other Southeast Asian countries where Japan has economic partnership agreements.
But why is there a lot of opposition to this so-called economic treaty?
Concerned groups and oppositors have expressed their concerns on the treaty even before this came to the Senate for debate. The contention is that it is unconstitutional since it violates the protectionist provisions in the Constitution. And the group that will be affected are Filipino nurses who wants to work in Japan.
The detractors believed that this same treaty will also become a “template” for other developed countries to exploit our OFWs particularly Pinoy nurses in exchange for economic and trade exchanges. And you know that we reported earlier that even the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) supports the call to junk the JPEPA during the legislative deliberation.
The impact is debilitating for most of our ordinary countrymen seeking healthcare-related jobs in Japan. For nurses, they will first work and get paid as trainees while preparing for the nursing licensure exam in the Japanese language. If they fail to pass the exam within a three-year period, they will have to return to the Philippines.
The treaty compromises Filipino nurses’ labor standards, job security, migrant and labor rights, benefits and wages, and other protection for healthcare workers and caregivers. Many believe that the trade agreement’s provision on labor services would compromise Filipino health workers and put them in a very vulnerable position.
16 Philippine senators voted in favor of the Treaty which is described to be as “onerous trade agreement.” Only four senators voted against the JPEPA.
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Philippine Government Still Optimistic About More Job Opportunities for Pinoy Nurses
The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) revealed that Pinoy nurses will still be very much in demand in the near future in developed countries.
This comes after the government helped the hiring of Filipino nurses in the Middles East which remains consistently high while Australia needs 200T Filipino nurses. Other countries that are opening up for Filipino nurses are Japan, Spain and Canada while deployment of Filipino nurses for the United Kingdom has dwindled.
The United States government, on the other hand, is fast tracking the nursing education for training their local nurses which might affect the number of deployment of Filipino nurses wanting to migrate there. This is expected to be counteracted by two house bills pending in US Congress that will open the hiring of foreign nurses to address the shortage of healthcare professionals in the US.
US Labor Department estimates that they will need 500,000 nurses between 2016 until 2025 as there will be millions of elderly people within this period and training their local nurses will not be enough to attend to the needs of the growing aging population.
PIA has acknowledged news report that there are 400T Filipino nurses left without employment as deployment for nurses abroad has slowed.
This is why it is extremely important for the Philippines to uplift the quality of the nurses today especially in the communication skills as well as hands-on experience as these will be the edge of the Filipino nurses when they work overseas.
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Up to 30,000 Pinoy OFWs Needed in Alberta, Canada
Seems to be a good news to all Filipinos who are aspiring to work in Canada. DOLE announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the province of Alberta, Canada for at least 10,000 job opportunities in the province alone. DOLE is looking at 20,000 more jobs coming in from other provinces.
The shortage for skilled and technical workers in Canada has pushed the Canadian government to seek the help of the local labor department who is more than willing to support this endeavour. Consequently, thousands of Pinoy nurses are expected to apply for the posts required by hospitals and nursing institutions in Canada.
We are hoping this will end the oversupply issue of Filipino nurses in the country.
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Review and Control of Nursing Schools in the Philippines by CHED is Being Pushed
Several concerned groups have been asking CHED to look closely into the review and control of nursing schools operating in the Philippines particularly those schools without proper training facilities and tie ups with local hospitals to train their graduates. This came after the oversupply issue on Filipino nurses raised concerns for more production.
CHED was quick to react that the commission cannot just close down a school just because it does not have connections with local hopsitals needed to train the future nurses. However, CHED realizes that indeed a lot of nursing schools have been performing below expectations and metrics set by the commission. CHED promised to act on these schools immediately.
In the meantime, thousands of board passers who studied from those ill-connected schools have no experience at all in the hospital environment making them inadmissible to foreign job opportunities. And for those lucky nurses who are able to get employment appears to have lack of experience in specialized fields like ICU, medical surgery, nicu, emergency, dialysis and cardiac care that are the most sought-after skills needed by foreign hospitals.
This problem will continue to grow if CHED will not act on it quickly.
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