Filipinos in Palau consist of contract workers from the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and their dependents living in

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...

. The approximately 7,000 Filipinos living in Palau make up about 35% of the entire population of Palau, and make up the second-largest ethnic group after Palauans. In addition, the

Tagalog language Tagalog (, ; ; '' Baybayin'': ) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, ...

is the fourth most-spoken language in Palau.

History

Filipinos first arrived in Palau during the Spanish colonial period, when Palau was still part of the

Captaincy General of the Philippines The Captaincy General of the Philippines ( es, Capitanía General de Filipinas ; tl, Kapitaniya Heneral ng Pilipinas) was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire in Southeast Asia governed by a governor-general as a dependency of the ...

(1565–1898). Palau was integrated to the

First Philippine Republic The Philippine Republic ( es, República Filipina), now officially known as the First Philippine Republic, also referred to by historians as the Malolos Republic, was established in Malolos, Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution against ...

near the end of the Philippine Revolution, but the Philippines lost control after their defeat in the Philippine-American War. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

there was a resurgence of Filipino people coming to Palau. They served as serviceman in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, and came to work at a

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an el ...

. In the 1970s, about 200 Filipinos were living and working in Palau, mostly in teaching and professional positions. Today, there are 4,495 Filipinos that live legally in Palau, and twenty-one of them are permanent residents, while the rest, 4,434, are migrant workers. However, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Saipan estimates that 80% of Filipinos living in Palau are

undocumented immigrant Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

s. In 2007, four people, two Filipinos and two Taiwanese, were arrested, jailed and fined for smuggling several Filipinos into Palau.

Filipino labour

Filipinos in Palau are employed in the agricultural, construction, education, engineering, fishing, hotel, medical, restaurant, and tourism sectors or as domestic helpers. The minimum monthly wages that a Filipino would receive is about

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

250. There is no Philippine Department of Labor and Employment office in Palau, but the Filipino Embassy works with the

government of Palau The politics of Palau take place in a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Palau is both head of state and head of government. Palau currently has no political parties and is a ''de facto'' non-partisan demo ...

to coordinate labour recruitment. Ramoncito Mariño, the Filipino ambassador to Palau said, "...labor problems usually start in the recruitment itself. So we make sure that the Palauan employers are in touch with legal recruiters who can produce qualified workers. It would also be another problem if the ones sent here are not qualified for their jobs."

References

{{Overseas Filipinos Ethnic groups in Palau

Society of Palau Palau–Philippines relations

History

Filipino labour

See also

References