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Saturday, January 05, 2008
OFWs banned in 4 Middle East countries
MANILA -- The labor department has formally issued the "complete ban" on the deployment of workers to Nigeria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
"This is the best measure for protection that we can have now because our workers are really at risk when they go to these places," said Labor Secretary Arturo Brion.
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He said the ban already took effect and that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is no longer processing the deployment of any Filipino workers to the four countries.
Brion said the complete ban in Iraq took effect in 2004, Lebanon in July 2006, shortly before Christmas of 2007 in Nigeria, and Afghanistan in December 2007.
He said government cannot do anything about those who are already in the four Middle East countries.
According to the labor official, revoking the illegal workers' passports would strip them of protection. But he said they could always avail of voluntary repatriation.
Brion also said the Philippines is now in the "seller's market" as far as nurses are concerned and government is looking at where the nurses could be sent overseas.
He said Britain, Ireland, Canada, and Saudi Arabia are asking for more Filipino nurses.
He added that Saudi Arabia demanded for 5,000 nurses last year, only 3,500 has been met, and that more would be recruited by the end of the first quarter this year.
Brion said 120,000 nurses have been deployed last year but it is still way below the demand.
He said the labor and health departments are also discussing ways to strengthen the local nursing industry by working on the regulation on the deployment of nurses abroad so that a certain number of nurses would be kept in the country.
Nurses should also be able to work in Philippine hospitals for a certain number of years before they could be allowed to work abroad, added Brion. (JMR/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (January 5, 2008 issue)
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