10/11/2007 | 05:44 PM
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/64086/Increasing-illegal-Pinoys-in-Taiwan-wo...
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Taiwan 璽�砂讶s ambassador to the Philippines has raised concern over the growing number of Filipinos illegally entering the territory to work.

Ambassador Hsin-hsing Wu, representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Manila, said his government 璽�玳滞as lost count" of undocumented Filipinos working in Taiwan.

璽�玳戦ndeed, that璽�砂讶s a problem. We don璽�砂讶t know how many undocumented workers there are exactly," he told newsmen at an embassy-hosted event Wednesday evening at Sofitel Hotel in Manila.

Most Filipinos in Taiwan are employed as factory workers, domestic helpers, construction workers, information technology professionals, and medical and health workers.

Because of the growing number of illegal foreign workers in Taiwan, Wu said his government is imposing a rule that only Taiwanese employers can hire workers.

Data from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas placed the number of Filipinos in Taiwan at 75, 123 as of December 2006, and they were classified as permanent, temporary and irregular.

Statistics from the Department of Labor and Employment showed that there were 39, 025 documented Filipinos working in Taiwan as of end-2006. This was fewer than the 46, 737 workers recorded in 2005. OFW deployment to Taiwan was at its peak in 1998, with 87, 360 persons.

Remittances from Filipinos in Taiwan in 2006 were recorded at $168. 99 million which represented a 95 percent growth over $86. 55 million in 2005. - Marie Neri, GMANews.TV