SEOUL, 13 August 2014 – Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Raul S. Hernandez met with Philippine Overseas Employment (POEA) Administrator Atty. Hans Leo J. Cacdac during the latter’s courtesy call at the Philippine Embassy Chancery on Wednesday, 13 August.

The POEA, an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment, serves as the sending agency of workers employed in Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS), which was launched by Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) for the efficient management of the non-professional foreign worker introduction system. “EPS workers contribute immensely to the enhancement of labor cooperation between the Philippines and Korea.Hence, I always remind Embassy officers and staff to fully serve our OFWs as they are our ambassadors in Korea,” Ambassador Hernandez said in his remarks to the visiting POEA chief, referring to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Mr Cacdac visited the Embassy together with thePhilippine-based director of Korea’s Korea's Human Resource Development Service Director (HRD)JeongEun-hee and POEA Regional Center Mindanao Director Ms. Carolina Agdamag. Administrator Cacdac informed the Ambassador that in celebration of the 10thanniversary of the launch of the EPS, he is due to make a presentation in the EPS forum on the POEA’s experience as a sending agency, entitled “A Decade of the EPS – A Milestone for Korea and Sending Countries”. “Our experience is anchored on the recognition of decent work and employment opportunities to qualified and ethically recruited jobseekers to the Korean economy,” he told Ambassador Hernandez. Administrator Cacdac further emphasized that since the send-off of the EPS pilot batch of 94 workers from the Philippines on 31 August 2004, there have been continuous progress and improvements on the program, as well as concrete measures to discourage OFWs from staying illegally in Korea. Improvements in the policies for foreign labor and their sojourn management, enhancement in the computerized infrastructure and integration of a return migration program are some of the notable developments. EPS has come a long way and the PHL prides itself in being one of the six original EPS partners of the ROK with a Memorandum of agreement signed on 24 April 2004. The current MOU was signed on 8 April2014. As of June 2014, there were 49,224 Filipinos in Korea, of which 22,300 are under the EPS. This total – 16,093 documented (72 percent) and 6,207undocumented (28 percent) puts the Philippines as the fifth largest EPS sending country.