By DANNY O. SAGUN
PIA-Pangasinan

FOUR overseas workers forced by the Israel-Hezbollah conflict to rush back home were immediately hired during the jobs fair at the Leisure Coast Resort which coincided with the North Luzon Quadrangle Agribusiness (NLQA) meeting last Thursday.

Three domestic helpers from Lebanon were placed for DH jobs in Kuwait, while one was hired as sales lady in Kuwait. Recruitment agency Jones International hired them without asking for placement fees.

Some 130 overseas workers from Region 1 affected by the conflict were invited by the labor department and its attached agencies to attend the jobs fair for possible hiring and further training. A good number of them showed up, lending a carnival air to the fair grounds at Leisure Coast resort in Bonuan Binloc.

Secretary Arthur Yap, jobs creation czar, led labor officials in awarding the training certificates to the displaced OFWs.

Yap led the first NLQA meeting, a kick-off event to the ambitious plan to make the North Luzon super region “the food basket not only of the country but also of the rest of North Asia.”

During the meeting, Yap promised to look into complaints by some displaced Lebanon OFWs about alleged violations by their recruiters and employers particularly on withheld salaries.