MANILA, Philippines - Despite the worsening financial crisis threatening many countries worldwide, the United Kingdom still turns to the Philippines for quality workers, the British ambassador to the Philippines said on Thursday.

Taking into consideration the recession, British Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham told reporters on Thursday that he recognizes the contribution of Filipino workers to the UK work force.

“The Philippines has a reputation for providing quality work force and we recognize that reputation," he said during the inauguration of the new office of the international consultancy firm International Student Advisors (ISA) 4U Inc. in Makati City on Thursday.

One of the major attractions of the Filipino work force, he said, is that Filipino workers can speak English fluently.

Recognizing this, Beckingham said that there was a “substantial increase" in the number of Filipinos employed in a huge variety of jobs in the UK, the figure reaching about 200,000.

He said that they process about 50,000 visa applications every year, 87 to 88 percent of which go quite smoothly.

However, he said that it would be wrong for him to say that there is a specific market opening for Filipinos in light of the global financial crisis.