Completion of Filipino POGO workers profiling eyed in September — DOLE

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Friday said it is tageting the completion of workers profiling of Filipino Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) employees.

In a media briefing, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma called on Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs) to submit their list of employees.

“Our target is not later than next month, we should already have the profile of the workers so we can already match them,” Laguesma told the press.

The DOLE official said they started the profiling aims to determine the jobs that would suit POGO workers and the training they would need for better work opportunities.

“DOLE, with help from the private sector, plans to conduct a focused or sector-specific job fair to explore what jobs are available,” Laguesma added.

This after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered the closure of all POGO sites in the country during his third State of the Nation Address.

Laguesma said the Labor department is preparing possible interventions, including job facilitation, livelihood, training and retraining, and job matching.

Based on initial profiling conducted on about 10,000 POGO employees, the Labor department anticipates finding new jobs in information technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.

The Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators previously estimated that some 40,000 Filipino workers from legal POGO sites would be affected by the government’s ban.