MANILA – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday announced the partial lifting of deployment ban of Filipino workers to Micronesia.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Governing Board of Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has allowed the deployment of returning workers or Balik Manggagawa (BM) to the host country upon the recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“On the basis of this recommendation (from the DFA), the Governing Board just passed a resolution lifting the total ban of deployment in Micronesia,” Bello said in a press briefing.
Bello added that they are still checking on the reports regarding the unpaid wages issue, which was the reason for the deployment ban.
“Well, actually that is being verified as to whether there were unpaid wages because we received information especially from the OFWs themselves that there is no such incident of non-payment of wages,” he said.
Early this month, the POEA, through Governing Board Resolution No. 05-2018, has implemented a deployment ban of Filipino workers in Micronesia due to reported abuses and maltreatment. (Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)