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The Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday announced that live-in caregivers will be able to get open work permits about 18 months sooner, thanks to a processing change announced by Canadian Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney on December 15.

“Too many live-in caregivers have completed their work obligations but must continue living in the home of their employer, waiting for their application for permanent residence to be reviewed,” Kenney said.

“This is understandably frustrating. That’s why we have started issuing open work permits to live-in caregivers as soon as they have completed their obligations and submitted an application for permanent residence,” he added.

Philippine Ambassador Leslie B. Gatan thanked the Minister for this most important decision which demonstrated the continued trust and confidence of the Canadian society on the skills and dedication to work of Filipinos in general.

The Canadian Government has taken action to protect live-in caregivers from abuse and exploitation with regulatory improvements implemented in the Live-in Caregiver Program in 2010 and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in 2011.

Changes include:

Allowing live-in caregivers to apply for permanent residence after 3,900 work hours, rather than two years of work, to ensure overtime is appropriately recognized;

The elimination of the need for a second medical examination when the caregiver applies for permanent residence;

Increasing amount of time a caregiver has to complete their work obligations, from three years to four;

The adoption of a standardized employment contract that ensures both parties agree to the salary, hours of work, vacation time, overtime, holidays, sick leave, and the terms of termination and resignation;

Defining the costs the employer is obliged to pay, including the caregiver’s travel expenses in coming to Canada, medical insurance, workplace safety insurance and third-party representative fees;

Emergency processing of work permits and employer authorizations to hire live-in caregivers who have been abused and need to leave their employment immediately;

A dedicated phone service for live-in caregivers through the department’s Call Centre;

An assessment of the genuineness of the job offer, including confirmation that the caregiver would be residing in a private residence and providing child care, senior home support care or care of a disabled person in that household without supervision, as well as whether the employer has sufficient financial resources to pay the wages of the caregiver and whether the accommodations being provided are adequate; and

A two-year period of ineligibility from hiring foreign workers, including live-in caregivers, for employers who have failed to live up to the terms of past job contracts.

President Benigno S. Aquino III will spread the cheer and joy of the season with Filipino street children and indigenous peoples at the Pasko ng Batang Pinoy that will be held at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City on Thursday, December 22.

The President, who will be joined by Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman, will address the 1,500 participants and their families who are expected to attend the event.

The Pasko ng Batang Pinoy Project is organized by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in partnership with the local government units and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) of the National Capital Region.

The program aims to provide homeless street families with social preparation modules to prepare them for possible permanent shelter supported with access to income-generating opportunities; livelihood assistance and opportunities through the Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) program; educational assistance for street children and alternative education to other members of the family; and health and nutrition services and other support interventions through LGUs and partner NGOs.

The DSWD said, this will help in the agency’s advocacy of achieving “zero” street children, street families and Bajaws in 10 priority areas in Metro Manila.

Inflows of foreign portfolio investment posted a higher net in November 2011 against month-ago’s level but fell sharply against year-ago’s figure.

Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that net foreign portfolio investments, otherwise known as hot money due to the speed it comes in and out of the country, last November reached US$ 490.54 million, higher than the previous month’s US$ 237.4 million.

It is, however, lower than year-ago’s US$ 1.67 billion, the central bank data shows.

The central bank traced the year-on-year drop in net hot money to “investor concerns on the euro zone problems.”

It said that investments in shares listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and peso-denominated government securities (GS) amounted to US$ 1.3 billion, 50.8 percent higher than last October’s level.

But it was lower than the US$ 2.6 billion in the same period last year “as the euro zone crisis caused jitters and heavy sell-offs of investments.”

In the first 11 months this year, net inflows totaled to US$ 3.94 billion, lower than year-ago’s US$ 4.19 billion.

Total investments during the period rose to US$ 15.4 billion over year-ago’s US$ 11.6 billion.

These came mainly from the United Kingdom, the United States, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong, all of which account to 87.4 percent of the total.