POEA imposes total OFW deployment ban to Egypt


Labor officials on Friday imposed a total deployment ban on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Egypt amid the continued unrest there.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration's (POEA) Governing Board cited the security risks for OFWs in Egypt at this time.

"The POEA Governing Board, in an emergency meeting, has approved yesterday Governing Board Resolution No. 9 Series of 2013 imposing a total ban on the processing and deployment of all overseas Filipino workers bound for Egypt," Labor Secretary and POEA Governing Board chairperson Rosalinda Baldoz said in a news release.

The DOLE said the deployment of new workers, as well as the return to Egypt of vacationing workers, spouses of Egyptian nationals, Islamic University students, and their dependents, is likewise suspended.

"It is not safe for OFWs to go to Egypt and work there, considering the present circumstances," she added.



Among those who signed the resolution were POEA Administrator and governing board vice chairman Hans Leo Cacdac, Felix Oca, Estrelita Hizon, Alexander Asuncion, and Milagros Isabel Cristobal.

Last July 12, the POEA Governing Board issued Resolution No. 6 imposing a temporary suspension on the processing and deployment of newly-hired OFWs bound for Egypt.

At that time, the Department of Foreign Affairs had raised the crisis alert level in Egypt to "2."

On Thursday, the Department of Foreign Affairs raised the crisis alert level in Egypt to "3," entailing the voluntary repatriation of Filipinos in Egypt.

Baldoz said Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario had instructed the Philippine Embassy in Cairo to assist in the repatriation of Filipinos in Egypt who wish to return to the Philippines.

According to the 2011 Stock Estimate of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, there are nearly 6,800 Filipinos in Egypt.

Over 600 deaths in one day

At least 623 people died and thousands were wounded on Wednesday when police cleared out two protest camps in Cairo set up to denounce the military overthrow on July 3 of Egypt's first freely elected president, Islamist leader Mohamed Mursi.

It was the third mass killing of Mursi supporters since his ouster. The assault left his Muslim Brotherhood in disarray, but they warned they would not retreat in their showdown with army commander General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

"After the blows and arrests and killings that we are facing, emotions are too high to be guided by anyone," said Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad.

A statement from the Brotherhood called for a nationwide "march of anger" by millions of supporters on Friday after noon prayers.

"Despite the pain and sorrow over the loss of our martyrs, the latest coup makers' crime has increased our determination to end them," it said.

The Brotherhood accuses the military of staging a coup when it ousted Mursi. Liberal and youth activists who backed the military saw the move as a positive response to public demands.

Friday prayers have proved a fertile time for protests during more than two years of unrest across the Arab world.

In calling for a "Friday of anger," the Brotherhood used the same name as that given to the most violent day of the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak. That day, Jan. 28, 2011, marked the protesters' victory over the police, who were forced to retreat while the army was asked to step in.

This week's carnage will do further damage to state coffers. The government has set a nighttime curfew that it says will last at least a month, a move that will deal a further blow to the crucial tourism industry.

Many of those who died on Wednesday were still laid out more than a day later in Cairo morgues and at a city mosque. Their families accused the government of putting bureaucratic hurdles in their way to make it hard to obtain permission to bury them.

Under Islamic tradition, bodies ought to be buried within 24 hours of death. - with a report fromReuters/VVP, GMA News

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