Labor dept affirms deployment ban

The Department of Labor and Employment last week reiterated the existing ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers in four countries due to political upheavals and peace and order problems.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said a ban against the deployment of OFWs is still being enforced in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Nigeria, a report by ABS-CBN's Apples Jalandoni said.

Brion explained that the ban in Iraq has been in effect since 2004. The government ban in Lebanon was imposed in June 2007.

Reports said the government has also stopped the processing OFWs who intend to work in Nigeria and Afghanistan shortly before Christmas last year.

In December last year, a Filipino seaman died in an attack that also led to an oil tanker explosion in Nigeria.

"Iyung previous bans noon maiikli, ito ngayon complete ban talaga. At sa bawat pagbabawal umaasa kami sa assessment ng DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] (The previous bans were short, now, it's total. We're also expecting an assessment from the DFA on each of the deployment bans)," Brion said.

The labor chief admitted that there are still recruiters who illegally send OFWs to the four countries mentioned despite the ban.

In Lebanon, for example, Brion said there are about 20,000 documented workers and thousands more without documentation.

"Wala naman tayong record ng mga iyun kasi wala na tayong embassy doon (We have no records because we have no embassies there," he said.

He added that Pakistan has not been included in the deployment ban because there are only about 300 OFWs there.

As for the other countries, Brion said that the government has no records to show.

Brion also said that according to the data of the Department of Foreign Affairs, there are 1,000 OFWs In Afghanistan and another 4,500 in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) issued a warning against recruiters violating the deployment ban with the removal of their licenses and accompanying charges of illegal recruitment.

However, Deputy Administrator of the POEA Carmelita Dimzon assured OFWs affected by the deployment ban that they would exert all their effort to find these OFWs alternative employment abroad.--ABS-CBN News

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