Labor Secretary Marianito Roque revealed Saturday that the state of Qatar has reserved hundreds of thousands of working visas for Filipino workers for next year.
"Our counterpart, the labor minister of Qatar said he had reserved, approved [work] visas for Filipinos. A total of 121,924 new visas exclusively for Filipinos," Roque told radio dzMM.
Roque said the Qatar labor minister showed him the reserved visas during President Arroyo's visit last December 14.
Quoting the foreign labor minister, Roque said Qatar wants to double the number of Filipino visitor workers by 2009. There are at least 149,000 Filipinos currently working in Qatar, the labor secretary said.
"The labor minister of Qatar told me that he wants Filipino workers to be the second biggest population of guest workers in Qatar next year," he said.
The labor secretary said among the companies that are planning to have an all-Filipino crew are Lulu Supermarket and a big bus company.
He said Bektel, one of the biggest companies in Qatar, is also planning to open jobs for Filipinos in 2009.
Roque said hundreds of other jobs may also open in Qatar, which is being developed as the "education center" of Middle East, which translates to thousands of construction job openings for Filipinos.
He said the Qatar government prefers Filipinos than other nationalities because they are hard-working and hygienic.
He added that Qatar employers mentioned to Mrs. Arroyo during her visit that Filipinos' work are spotless and they are more peace-loving than other nationalities.
Meanwhile, Roque said his department has already started working with the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for the job placements and skills training qualifications for Filipinos who would want to work in Qatar.
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