THE LABOR department said the foreign affairs department has recommended the partial lifting of a deployment ban on Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to the Federated States of Micronesia.
Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said in a news conference on Thursday, “I just received information from (Administrator Bernard P.) Olalia of the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA) that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has recommended the lifting of the deployment ban to the Federated States of Micronesia.”
DFA said in a statement on Thursday that the recommendation of a partial lifting of the deployment ban is to exempt OFWs who have families in Micronesia. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said: “We hope to find common ground with the POEA so we can balance the need for us to protect our OFWs in Micronesia and at the same time, ensure that their families remain intact.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Bello said DoLE plans to discuss with the DFA the possibility of lifting the deployment ban of OFWs to the Federated States, which stemmed from complaints of non-payment of wages to some OFWs. Mr. Bello added that he has confirmed that there is only one complainant.
In his Thursday briefing, Mr. Bello said POEA will soon issue Governing Board Resolution 5-A that will order a partial lifting of the deployment ban.
Governing Board Resolution 5, which was issued earlier this month, ordered the total deloyment ban covering the Federated States.
DoLE also said a trigger event for a deployment ban to and the voluntary repatriation of Filipinos from Libya is currently in place, known as alert level 3.
“In a level 3 alert, automatically the (POEA) governing board will issue a resolution formalizing the deployment ban,” said DoLE Undersecretary Jacinto V. Paras during the same briefing.
Mr. Jacinto also said that the Philippines Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Libya will coordinate with Filipinos who are still in Libya in order to be repatriated.
In 2016, POEA partially lifted its total deployment ban of OFWs, allowing returning OFWs to resume employment in Libya. Workers hired after the partial lifting of the ban were not allowed to be deployed. — Gillian M. Cortez

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