In his recent visit to the Philippines , Fr. Bruno Ciceri of the Stella Maris International Service Center (SMISC) in Kaoshiung together with Fr. Savino of the Apostleship of the Sea – Manila and the PMRW secretariat met with Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas and Admin. Marianito Roque of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) at the Department of Labor and Employment on November 3, 2005 , Thursday.

Fr. Bruno reported on the current relationship the SMISC has with the new Labor Attaché Beth Racio. According to Fr. Bruno, SMISC had worked hand in hand with Atty. Romulo Salud, former labor attaché in Taiwan and with MECO. However due to government policy Atty. Salud had to be replaced after six years. With the change of labor attaché also came a change of working environment. Fr. Bruno also mentioned that part of the problem is due to the replacement of all of the staff of MECO. All the local hires were replaced. It seemed that there is no qualified interpreter at present. He had also presented some documents which Mrs. Racio asked the workers to sign. This document showed MECO's Withdrawal of support from their case in court and another affidavit that retracts it.

There has been a big change in terms of cooperation between the two organizations. Sec. Sto. Tomas pointed out that the change might have been brought about by the fact that being new in her position, Mrs. Racio might still be in her adjustment and learning curve. The change of staff was a result of a government policy not to hire local workers anymore. It was a defensive measure because there have been cases when they have been sued for being unable to pay the local wages because they do not have the money. It was decided to get people organic within the Department of Labor who are there on assignment and will simply get an allowance.

It was not Fr. Bruno's intention to impose what must be done but rather to inform the Secretary of the situation in Taiwan and leave the government to do the necessary actions to the present situation in Taiwan .

Hiring locals will not be an option according to the Secretary but they will look for alternative arrangements to meet such concerns. She also spoke with Mrs. Racio on the phone during the meeting to confirm and discuss the matters just related to her. She directly advised the Labor Attaché to cooperate with Fr. Bruno and other NGO's to avoid other problems, stating that there is no point in working singly.

Fr. Bruno also expressed his concern for the direct hiring program. He already made a proposal to the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) to automatically enter into a direct hiring system when over 150 workers are needed by a company. DOLE already proposed a TECO to MECO Hiring system however CLA does not want a direct hiring system.