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Within the local labor market, the Philippines

contends with its skills shortages. The Department of Labor and
Employment had identified some “hard-to-fill” occupations;
if matched with the seven professions with ASEAN MRAs,

some skilled workers are needed in the country.

The identification of these occupations that are

“in-demand” and “hard-to-fill” is a result of a series of
consultations by the DOLE (DOLE Bureau of Local Employment,
2011). Overseas employment was also identified in the DOLE

report “Project JobsFit” as the department had also identified
the hard-to-fill occupations overseas by occupational grouping

(similar to what were found locally).

Most of the destination countries in need of identified
professional, technical and related workers are countries from

the Middle East. In specific occupations such as information
technology programmers and engineers (civil, mechanical,

electrical, chemical, communications and agricultural),
Singapore is a noted destination. The rest of the hard-to-fill
overseas occupations, including the less-skilled workers, have

Middle East countries as favored destinations (DOLE Bureau
of Local Employment, 2011). The reflection here is that the

Philippines tosses back-and-forth its obligations of providing
for her local labor market needs while not wholly abandoning
opportunities in ASEAN countries. The difference between the

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