Gov’t accepts OFW presence in risky areas

BAGUIO CITY—The government has virtually acknowledged helplessness in stopping the flight of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to countries where deployment is banned because of conflicts or wars.

But it has sent negotiating teams to these countries to secure better protection for the Filipino workers, Labor Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz said on Wednesday. She clarified, however, that the talks were not meant to encourage the OFWs.

Filipino domestic helpers are still barred from entering Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and other countries due to armed conflicts there.

Baldoz said the steady flight to conflict areas by undocumented OFWs had forced the government to try to regulate OFW work there without officially condoning them.

The government wants to ensure that it can identify migrant workers who enter these countries through the backdoor so they can be protected and immediately repatriated, if necessary, Baldoz told reporters after the launching of the public radio program “Ugnayang Bayan.”

Government negotiators are drafting terms on the entry, length of stay, and documentation of migrant workers in Lebanon and Jordan, Baldoz said.

No teams have been sent out yet to Iraq because the Department of Foreign Affairs has not cleared that country as safe, she said.

The negotiations would help the government to determine whether the migrant work ban imposed on such countries should remain, Baldoz said.

“We know for a fact that a lasting work ban only encourages migrant workers to try new tactics to enter [war-torn countries], like go through the backdoor,” she said. –Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon