This Memorandum of Understanding entered into by and between the
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, hereina-
fter referred to as TECO, represented by its Representative, Lo
Jyh-Yuan; and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei,
hereinafter referred to as MECO, represented by its Representat-
ive, Rodolfo T. Reyes;
WITNESSETH THAT:
Whereas, it is the desire of TECO and MECO to immediately imple-
ment a special hiring facility which will enable employers in t-
he R.O.C. to hire Filipino workers without the intervention of
the manpower agencies from both parties:
Whereas, both parties, in the spirit of mutual understanding and
cooperation, shall ensure the proper documentation and facilita-
te the hiring of qualified workers;
Whereas, both parties herein are committed to adopt measures to
advance workers' interest as well as that of employers;
NOW THEREFORE, for and in consideration of the foregoing premis-
es, and in order to effectively implement the special hiring fa-
cility, both parties agree on the following points:
1.The special hiring facility shall be on a trial basis;
2.The shall be no discrimination between the special hiring fac-
ility and existing hiring system through the manpower agencies
;
3.The special hiring facility shall be regarded as a second opt-
ion for employers and is not intended to replace altogether o-
ther option of hiring through manpower agencies;
4.The schedule of expenses of workers hired through the special
hiring facility shall be mutually agreed by both parties with-
out prejudice to the welfare of the workers and relevant laws
and rules of both sides;
5.The special hiring facility shall be implemented through a pr-
ocess of regular and continuing consultations between appropr-
iate authorities of both sides with the end view of coming out
with a mutually acceptable system, procedures and mechanism;
6.This Memorandum of Understanding shall be effective from the
date of signing by both parties thereto and shall have an eff-
ective period of two years, subject to extension by mutual ag-
reement of the parties. Either party may give written notice
at any time to terminate this Memorandum of Understanding.
Signed in Taipei, in duplicate in the Chinese and English langu-
ages, both texts being equally authentic, on this 12th day of t-
he first month of the 90th year of the Republic of China, corre-
sponding to the 12th day of January, 2001. In case of any diver-
gence of interpretation, the English text shall prevail.
For the Taipei Economic and For the Manila Economic andCul-
Cultural Office in the Phil- tural Office in Taipei
ippines

JYH-YUAN LORepresentative RODOLFO T. REYESRepresentative
Witnessed:
CHU CHENChairmanCouncil of BIENVENIDO E. LAGUESMASecretary-
Labor AffairsRepublic of Ch- Department of Labor and Employm-
ina entRepublic of the Philippines