The Philippines' Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) will set up a special job fair for almost 20,000 displaced Filipino ex-IGL and ex-POGO employees.
As reported by Philippines news media, DOLE-National Capital Region Assistant Regional Director Jude Trayvilla said the special job fair will be held at the Ayala Mall Manila Bay in Parañaque on 10 October.
“As of 16 September, there are 48 internet gaming licensees (IGLs) that have submitted lists of employees that will be affected by their closure. In the said list, there are 19,341 Filipino employees,” Trayvilla said.
DOLE-NCR has been working on profiling said Filipino workers. Fellow director Olivia Samson said 70 employers would be participating in the special job fair. She said more job fairs for the affected POGO workers would be expected to follow after 10 October.
According to Trayvilla, most of the employees were involved in administrative tasks and encoding. They were employed in the finance, information technology and housekeeping departments. Their monthly salaries ranged between PHP 16,000 ($287.21) to PHP 22,000 ($394.91).
Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said government assistance would primarily focus on workers employed in internet gaming licensees (IGL).
“What we are focusing (on) now are workers that are legally at work. These are the IGLs,” Laguesma said in a radio interview, noting that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) has rebranded former POGOs as IGLs.
The job fair to help displaced Filipino IGL employees was first suggested shortly after the nationwide POGO ban was announced. Last week, DOLE announced that finalisation for the job fair was on track.
