Manila: The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (Poea) has suspended the implementation of an order prohibiting Filipinos from working in 41 countries amid concerns of possible backlash from the restrictions.
The deployment ban was issued after the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs certified that the countries covered by the restriction do not observe measures necessary to protect migrant workers from abuse. Among the countries listed were Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Chad, Croatia, Cuba, North Korea, Dominica, East Timor/Timor Leste, Eritrea, Haiti, India, Iraq, Kyrgzstan/Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, Palestine, Serbia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tonga, Turks and Caicos, Tuvalu, US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe.
In the recall resolution signed by Labour Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz and Poea Administrator Carlos Cao, it was stated that the implementation of the worker deployment ban will be withheld for a period of 90 days from November 18 until the countries listed are able to establish measures for the protection of Filipinos who serve as guest workers in their countries.
Bilateral agreement
"DFA Secretary Albert Del Rosario has requested the Poea governing board for a 90-day reprieve on the implementation of the deployment ban to provide enough time to work on the possible bilateral agreements with the 41 countries… , in the meantime, [he] has recalled the certifications issued for these countries," the Poea resolution said.
