MANILA — The Philippines and Singapore will sign a joint communiqué aiming to hire more Filipino health workers in the Southeast Asian city-state, Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople said Tuesday.

Speaking during President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s meeting with the Filipino community at the National University of Singapore, Ople said the Singaporean government hailed Pinoy health workers' contributions at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Ang good news ay mismong gobyerno ng Singapore ang nag-reach out sa atin... at humihingi sila ng karagdagang Filipino health workers dahil sobrang napabilib sila ng ating mga manggagawa noong panahon ng pandemya," said Ople.

"Bukas, isa sa mga lalagdaan ay isang joint communique with the Ministry of Health na nakasaad doon ang kanilang paniniwala, ang kanilang kagustuhan na maka-hire pa ng Filipino health workers natin. Nangako sila na aalagaan sila nang husto," she added.

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During the event, Marcos said this can translate to "thousands" of job opportunities for Pinoy health workers.

He added that the Singaporean government is also eyeing to hire Filipino aviation personnel, engineers, and professors.

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Marcos last week expressed his willingness to raise the overseas deployment cap of health workers, admitting that the benefits they get locally are "not enough."

The government earlier imposed a 7,500-deployment cap for health workers abroad, but the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said the goal was yet to be reached.

Former POEA administrator Bernard Olalia said that as of June this year, only 2,000 health workers were deployed overseas, far from the 7,500 limit.

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At the height of the pandemic, the government imposed a deployment ban, later a deployment cap, on nurses to keep them from leaving the country following gaps in local hospital personnel.

But burned-out nurses resigned and chose to work in other industries.

Marcos arrived Tuesday in Singapore for a state visit through Wednesday. The city-state's Health Minister Ong Ye Kung received him and his delegation at the Changi Airport.

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