MECO welcomes Taiwan plan to set up recruitment center in Philippines

Taipei, Dec. 31 (CNA) The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) "warmly welcomes" Taiwan's plan to set up its first cross-border recruitment center in the Philippines to enable Taiwanese employers to directly hire Filipino migrant workers.

"This initiative reflects the growing partnership between the Philippines and Taiwan and marks an important step toward more ethical, transparent, and worker-centered recruitment," MECO Chairperson and Resident Representative Corazon Avecilla-Padiernos said in a statement Tuesday.

MECO serves as the Philippines' de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties.

Taiwan's Ministry of Labor (MOL) said last Friday that the new center will open in the first quarter of 2026 and circumvent the manpower brokerage system that has been used to date.

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Under the new system, expenses for flight tickets, health checkups and visas for migrant workers will in principle be paid by Taiwanese employers rather than workers, according to Lydia Huang (黃齡玉), director general of the MOL's Workforce Development Agency.

Padiernos highlighted the direct-hiring mechanism and the shift of key costs to Taiwanese employers, saying the measures can "significantly reduce the financial burden on Filipino workers and help address abusive brokerage practices."

Currently, most migrant workers in Taiwan are recruited through brokers, and many workers pay pre-employment expenses to brokers in their home countries.

Brokers in Taiwan are then permitted to charge them monthly service fees capped at NT$1,800 (US$57.20) in the first year after arrival, NT$1,700 in the second year and NT$1,500 from the third year onward.

Padiernos said MECO will work closely with the Philippines' Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and Department of Migrant Workers as well as related agencies in Taiwan, "to help ensure that the new system genuinely protects the rights and welfare of Filipino workers, while also responding to Taiwan's legitimate labor needs."

Though the center has yet to open, Taiwan's Labor Minister Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said last Friday that the MOL has a special task force in place to take applications for workers from Taiwanese employers starting Jan. 1, 2026.