THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said it will exempt certain classes of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) from the deployment ban to Iraq.
In Memorandum Circular No. 17, Series of 2018, the POEA said it will exempt from the ban employees of companies holding Iraqi government contracts, as well as OFWs working for the governments of member-states of the International Coalition, the United States, the United Nations, and other international organizations and non government organizations. OFWs who work as private staff to foreign diplomats in Baghdad and senior officials of the Iraq government are also allowed to return to Iraq.
The exemption also applies to returning workers living in Babil, Baghdad, Basra, Dhiqar, Karbala, Maysan, Mathunna, Najaf, Qadisiyah, Saladin, Wasit and other areas certified as safe by the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad.
The guidelines follow the issuance of POEA Governing Board Resolution No. 6 on Sept. 4, which incorporates input from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“Under the selective Balik-Mangagawa (BM) Exemption Program proposed by the DFA to exempt returning workers from the current deployment ban imposed on Irag, the following guidelines are hereby issued for processing and deployment of returning workers,” the Memo Circular said.
Workers still covered by the deployment ban are newly-hired or returning household service workers and domestic workers; and newly hired or returning workers intending to live and work in no-go areas in Northern Iraq (Anbar, Nineveh, Kirkuk, and Salahuddin).
The DFA has notified the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) that it has lowered the Crisis Alert Level from 4 (Mandatory Repatriation) to 3 (Voluntary Repatriation).
According to the DFA, there are around 4,000 OFWs based in Iraq which includes 3,000 in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. — Gillian M. Cortez
