POEA defers OFW deployment ban in 41 countries

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has deferred on Thursday the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) deployment ban in 41 countries that were previously certified by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as non-compliant to the provisions for the protection of OFWs as stated in the Amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act (RA 10022).

According to POEA Governing Board Resolution (GBR) No. 8, Series of 2011, POEA is complying with DFA’s request for a 90-day reprieve on the implementation of the deployment ban that should have taken effect on November 18. The resolution was signed by labor chief Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz who is also chairperson of the POEA GB.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario asked for the 90-day period which will be used to work out possible bilateral agreements with the 41 countries so these can comply with RA 10022. In the meantime, del Rosario has also recalled the certifications of non-compliance. As a result, POEA has also recalled POEA GBR No. 7, Series of 2011, which issued the deployment ban to the 41 countries.

Earlier Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, DD of the Archdiocese of Lipa called on government to push through with the deployment ban, saying that the dignity of OFWs is far more important than the dollars they could earn abroad. Arguelles used to head the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI).

For more information, see the POEA GBR No. 8, Series of 2011.

Image from Microsoft Office website.