Korea's biggest delegation of 182 Executives to arrive the Philippines for Investment

 

K-Biz to visit Philippines in search of trade opportunities

 

The biggest delegation of South Korean businessmen will arrive this week to look at potential trade, investment and tourism opportunities in the Philippines, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

 

DTI said a 182-strong mission composed of chief executives and senior officers belonging to the Korea Importers Association (KOIMA) will visit the Philippines from July 17-20.

 

KOIMA groups over 8,000 public and private importers that handle 70 percent of South Korea's major imports such as agricultural produce, consumer goods, food and industrial products.

 

DTI-Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BETP) said this is the biggest inbound business mission to come from South Korea.

 

"We view the delegation's visit as an opportunity to further improve our economic relations with South Korea. We also look at it as support to our efforts in raising awareness about the Philippines' supply capabilities and sustaining the current momentum of tourism interest among Koreans," Trade Undersecretary Ponciano C. Manalo Jr. said in a statement.

 

"The DTI also sees the opportunity to develop and expand the current inventory of Philippine exports by exposing the group of Korean importers to alternative products and services. Examples of these products are organic chemicals, oleo-chemicals, minerals other than copper, electronics, motorcycle parts," Manalo said.

 

The visiting South Korean business mission will attend a DTI-led trade and investment seminar as well as a business matching session with Filipinos, and will also join a Department of Tourism-led (DOT) tour at a plantation resort.

 

DTI quoted KOIMA as saying that the group's Philippine visit is "one of the major activities of the association backed by [the South Korean] government."

 

"This year, the Philippines was selected over Thailand and Myanmar as the country to be visited by KOIMA's summer buying mission," Manalo said.

 

DTI-BETP data showed that two-way trade between the Philippines and South Korea last year reached $7.4 billion. Philippine imports outnumbered exports, with the former increasing 1.19 percent to $4.5 billion last year from $4.4 billion in 2011—making South Korea the fifth largest source of imports. But Philippine exports rose at a faster 27.93 percent to $2.9 billion last year from $2.2 billion in 2011, making South Korea the sixth biggest export destination.

 

The Philippines and South Korea enjoy free trade under the Asean-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA).

 

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Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 2013 - To End Employment Discrimination – Pia Cayetano

Age doesn't matter, says Cayetano in anti-discrimination in work bill

 

A bill that will prohibit and penalize employers who will decline any application or forcibly lay off a worker on the basis of age and other forms of discrimination has been filed at the Senate.

 

Senator Pia Cayetano said she filed Senate Bill No. 29 or the Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 2013 to put an end to what she considered an emerging type of discrimination in the labor front — discrimination in employment based on a person's age.

 

The bill, she said, sought to penalize any employer, labor contractor or labor organization that would discriminate against any individual because of age.

 

Cayetano said the measure was anchored on the constitutional provision that mandates the state to ensure equality of employment opportunities for all.

 

"The basis for employment should be a person's knowledge, skills and qualifications which are necessary to perform a job. A person's age should not be an issue," she said in a statement on Tuesday.

 

"Prejudice against age is apparent in job postings which set arbitrary age limits for applicants. We often see these in classified ads, job fairs, billboards and the Internet," she said.

 

Under the proposed measure, employers from the private sector as well as the national and local government units would be prohibited from:

 

* Printing, publishing, or causing the printing or publishing of any notice of advertisement relating to employment suggesting preferences, limitations, specifications and discrimination based on age;

 

* Requiring the declaration of age or birth date during the application process;

 

* Declining any employment application because of the applicant's age;

 

* Discriminating against an individual on account of his or her age in terms of compensation, terms and conditions, privileges, promotions and other opportunities; and

 

* Forcibly laying off an employee because of old age.

 

"You would think that this is an issue affecting senior citizens, but no, even those in their late 20s are already discriminated against," Cayetano said.

 

"When I go around the country, people who look to be in their late 20s, 30s or 40s would sometimes approach and ask me, 'Senadora, pwede po ba nating ipagbawal sa batas ang age limit sa job hiring? Kahit may edad na po kami, kaya pa naman namin, pero laging mas bata ang pinipili ng mga employer['Senator, is it possible to prohibit the setting of age limits in job hiring? We are still capable despite our age, but employers tend to prefer younger applicants over us.']"

 

Once enacted into law, any person who would violate the measure would be fined not less than ₱50,000 but not more than ₱500,000, or imprisoned for not less than three months but not more than two years, or both, at the discretion of the court.

 

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