POEA warns recruiters vs. sending OFWs to 'dangerous' destinations

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said charges will be filed against recruitment agencies that deploy overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to countries considered by the government as risky to workers. POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said, “These recruiters are heartless, sending their recruits to actual war zones and other destinations with hostile and hazardous working conditions.” Cacdac said OFWs will not reach prohibited destinations unless illegal recruiters circumvent the ban by sending Filipino workers to these countries through a third country. For sending household service workers to Syria earlier this year, the POEA has already filed charges against nine recruitment agencies. The government issued a total deployment ban to Syria in August last year because of continued political unrest there. Aside from Syria, Cacdac said the other countries with restrictions are: Afghanistan (only rehires working inside American military camps and facilities with existing employment contracts are allowed); Iraq (all skilled workers are banned except in the Kurdistan Region); Lebanon (returning workers who were processed before June 18, 2007 and returning to the same employer are allowed); Jordan (newly-hired household service workers are not allowed), and Yemen (only workers returning to existing employers are allowed). - VVP, GMA News

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