POEA Governing Board lifts deployment ban on OFWs returning to Yemen; ban on new hires stays



Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, Chairman of the
Governing Board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration,
yesterday announced the lifting of the ban in the redeployment of overseas
Filipino workers to Yemen, two months after the ban was re-imposed on 10
December 2013, but maintained the deployment ban on newly-hired OFWs "until
further advice."

"The POEA Governing Board, in a meeting duly convened, has approved
yesterday Governing Board Resolution No. 2 Series of 2014 allowing the
redeployment of Filipino workers returning to Yemen, subject to proof of existing
employment as determined by the POEA," Baldoz said.

"However, the board is maintaining its ban on newly-hired OFWs until further
advice," she added.

The approval of the resolution was unanimous, with Felix Rodolfo M. Oca,
Estrelita S. Hizon, Alexander E. Asuncion, and Milagros Isabel Cristobal all
signing the resolution, together with POEA Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac,
Governing Board Vice Chairman, and Secretary Baldoz.

The lifting of the ban came after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
recommended on 1 February the lowering of the crisis alert level from Crisis Alert
Level 3 to Crisis Alert Level 2, citing a general improvement of the political
situation and environment in that country after the Southern Yemen Solutions
Document was signed and a truce between the warring Houthis and Salafis
tribes was declared.

Crisis Alert Level 3 entails the voluntary repatriation of Filipinos in a country,
while Crisis Alert Level 2 entails a restriction in travel to and inside Yemen.

The bomb attack at the Yemeni defense ministry complex on 5 December 2013
that resulted to the death of seven Filipinos and injury to 11 others had OFWs prompted the POEA to impose a ban on both returning and newly-hired OFWs to
Yemen.

The POEA said deployment of OFWs to Yemen in 2013 reached only 646, with
571 of them re-hires and 75 new hires.

Baldoz said that with the lifting of the ban on returning OFWs to Yemen, she has
instructed the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh, which exercises
jurisdiction over OFW affairs in Yemen, to closely coordinate with Philippine
Embassy officials in Riyadh and in Yemen in continually monitoring the situation
with the end in view of securing the welfare and protection of OFWs in that
country.

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