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Sunday, February 08, 2004
OFWs welcome in Northern Marianas: DOLE
THE DEPLOYMENT of Filipino workers in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) will continue despite the imposition of travel restrictions involving at least 30 countries.
This, after the CNMI government did not include the Philippines in the list of 30 nations barred from entering their territory due to health and security reasons.
In a report to Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, CNMI-based labor attaché Joan Lourdes Lavilla said the visitors banned from entering CNMI are those from theMiddles East which includes Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Lavilla said the reason for restricting the countries from the Middle East is due to the fear of terrorist attacks.
People from some nations in Asia like the Fujian province of China and Indonesia are not allowed to travel to CNMI for posing health risks due to the dreaded severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus and bird flu, which have claimed a number of innocent lives.
Also barred from entering CNMI are those from Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Algeria, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea and Tunisia.
Sto. Tomas said CNMI's Attorney Pamela Brown ordered the immigration officials to stop releasing entry permits to the 30 nations since they failed to provide the necessary background to ensure that travelers from these countries are not putting the citizens of CNMI in danger.
"Atty. General Brown had ordered the CNMI's division on immigration to stop the release of entry permits to individuals from the said locations because they had consistently proven unable to provide background information about their traveling individuals, thus greatly burdening the legal and immigration enforcement system of the Commonwealth," the Labor chief said.
In related developments, Sto. Tomas also said overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) hired for government construction projects will get an increase in wages after the CNMI's governor Juan Babauta issued a directive requiring private contractors from the government-funded projects to level the salaries of the workers with the prevailing rate of United States.
Based on the order, contractors must pay their workers the US minimum wage rate of US$5.15 per hour and not the existing CNMI rate.
"This is a fair and welcome development for our skilled OFWs who are working and helping the growth of CNMI," Sto. Tomas added. (Marie Neri)
(February 8, 2004 issue)
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