April 16 - 30, 2016
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
POLO holds post-arrival seminar
by Rosette Correa
The Philippine Overseas Labour Office
in cooperation with the Philippine Consulate
held a Post-Arrival Orientation Seminar
(PAOS) at the Metrotown Community Hall in
Burnaby last April 24. PAOS is a program of
the Department of Labour and Employment
under the amended Migrant Workers Act of
the Philippines. Around sixty newly arrived
caregivers and temporary foreign workers
attended the seminar, and several speakers
were invited to give them information
regarding settlement and immigration
processes.
Labour Attache Jaime Gimenez opened
the seminar welcoming the attendees and
giving them a brief description of the work of
the POLO and how they are connected with
Philippine Overseas Employment Agency and
Overseas Welfare Workers Administration, as
well as Philippine government benefits. He
was followed by Consul Rogelio Villanueva
who spoke about how the Consulate and
the Labour Office can provide them with
consular services such as certification,
notarial services, NBI and police clearances,
and other important documentation that they
may need.
Several speakers were invited to shed
light on important information about Canada
to the newcomers. Maria Javier of Solutions
On-Call, known as the “godmother of
caregivers” shed light on Canadian values and
the rights and responsibilities of Canadians.
She also discussed salaries and wages
according to Canadian law, workplace safety
as well as vacations and leaves.
Rene Bahena of Bahena Immigration
Services talked about immigration updates,
particularly on the caregiver programs and
the conversion of their status from working
to permanent resident (PR). He discussed
the qualifications necessary for this transition
and the necessary steps in applying for the
PR status. Bahena also shared the procedure
for the new Express Entry, which is a new
system that chooses eligible candidates for
quicker expediting of their status to PR. He
said that as of the last draw in April 2015,