Gov’t retains OFW ban in 6 countries

MANILA, Philippines—The government is retaining the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Nigeria, and Somalia, mainly because of the unstable and volatile security situation in these countries, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) groups in Afghanistan and Iraq earlier appealed to the government to lift the labor deployment ban.

But an interagency committee which periodically reviews the policy recommended against the lifting of the ban because of the unstable security situation in these war-torn countries.

According to DFA spokesman J. Eduardo Malaya, adequate terms of employment and the overall safety and security of OFWs cannot be assured in these countries, as required by the Migrant Workers Act, or Republic Act 8042.

The law mandates that the government adhere to strict guidelines in allowing the deployment of OFWs to other countries. It also imposes heavy penalties on government officials who allow the deployment of migrant workers without the guarantees required by law.

The committee, led by the DFA, also includes the Department of Labor and Employment, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

The DFA has yet to comment on reports that foreign civilian contractors in Afghanistan have started terminating Filipino workers in line with a September 17 order issued by the US Central Command (Centcom).

Centcom has directed all contractors to remove from the job sites all third-country nationals whose domestic laws prohibit them from traveling to or working in Afghanistan.

The same migrant workers should be repatriated to their countries of origin upon the termination of their contracts in December, according to Centcom.

There are more than 6,000 OFWs based in Afghanistan, doing mainly maintenance and logistics work in over 60 military facilities operated by US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization military forces.

A similar order has been issued for US military facilities in Iraq, where an undisclosed number of OFWs are based. However, the government has allowed these OFWs to stay on and finish their work contracts to prevent a mass repatriation. And apparently, the Centcom is letting them stay for the meantime. –Jerry E. Esplanada, Philippine Daily Inquirer