PH Ambassador to Brunei Discusses Frontline Services, Creation of DMW in Company Visit

Ambassador Marian Jocelyn R. Tirol-Ignacio with Embassy officers and officials of Golden Corporation. From left to right: Chief Finance Officer Michael Sim Kuok Hua, Welfare Officer Anuar Ampang, Consul General Pete Raymond V. Delfin, Ambassador Tirol-Ignacio, Managing Director Richard Chuang Hsi Shan, Labor Attaché Joan Lourdes Lavilla,  Administrative/Human Resource Manager Jacqueline Yeo Liang Liang, and HR Assistant Irish Carl Sagaoinit. (Brunei PE photo)

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 30 November 2022 – Philippine Ambassador to Brunei Marian Jocelyn R. Tirol-Ignacio led Philippine Embassy officials in a visit on 29 November 2022 to OFWs employed by Golden Corporation, Brunei’s largest end-to-end seafood processing company.

 “The Philippine Embassy is focused on making our frontline services more accessible to Filipinos in Brunei, and our visit to Golden Corporation is part of our efforts to create awareness of this priority initiative,” Ambassador Tirol-Ignacio said. Accompanying Ambassador Tirol-Ignacio on the company visit were Consul General Pete Raymond V. Delfin, Labor Attaché Joan Lourdes Lavilla and Welfare Office Anuar Ampang. 

For 2023, the Embassy has scheduled quarterly Sunday services and two consular outreach services each for the districts of Kuala Belait and Tutong.

Golden Corporation is considered a key player in Brunei’s seafood industry employing a multinational workforce of 600. Around 70 OFWs currently work in crucial aspects of the company’s production, logistics and administrative units as well as at its shrimp farm.  With the company’s operations expected to expand next year, the company is intending to hire more Filipino workers.

Among the important matters discussed by the Ambassador with the Filipino employees was the creation of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW). 

She conveyed that the Philippine Embassy was carrying the 16-day campaign against gender-based violence in the workplace, an advocacy of the Philippine Government implemented annually every November. The OFWs were made aware of issues related to gender-based violence in the workplace and encouraged them to work together with management through the development and implementation of appropriate mechanisms in case such were being encountered.

The visitors from the Philippine Embassy were welcomed by top officials of Golden Corporation which included Managing Director Richard Chuang His Shan, Chief financial Officer Michael Sim Kuok Hua and Administrative and Human Resource Manager Jacqueline Yeo Liang Liang. The executives acknowledged the hard work and contributions to the company of Filipino workers, especially those who have been working with them for more than a decade.

Ambassador Tirol-Ignacio expressed appreciation to Golden Corporation for accommodating the visit of the Philippine Embassy and for the excellent treatment of their Filipino employees.  

The company visit is part of the Embassy’s program to update large businesses and their Filipino personnel of the latest developments in the Philippines’ overseas labor welfare regime and to share experiences on the employment of Filipinos in Brunei and to discuss concerns arising from their employment and well as their residence in the Sultanate. Several other visits to companies in other economic sectors and parts of Brunei Darussalam are being planned for next year. END

For more information, visit https://www.bruneipe.dfa.gov.ph, https://www.philippine-embassybrunei.org, or https://www.facebook.com/PHinBrunei/, https://twitter.com/PHinBrunei, or https://www.instagram.com/phinbrunei/.