MANILA – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) are set to meet to discuss the possibility of temporarily lifting the deployment ban of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to the Federated States of Micronesia.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said he is meeting with POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia, adding that they also have to coordinate with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) regarding their next move.
“We have to also consult with DFA kasi DFA ang (is the) determining factor dito (here). Ang issue kasi dyan (The issue there) is non-payment of wages lang e (only),” Bello said in an interview Tuesday.
Bello added that he has received numerous messages from workers in Micronesia.
“Okay naman sila, walang reklamo. Sabi nila kung hindi daw sila binabayaran, dapat (nag-decide) na silang umuwi dito (They are okay. They do not have clamors. They said that if they are not being paid, they should have decided to go back to the Philippines),” the DOLE chief said.
“But there was this report that a hospital is not paying doctors and nurses so there was a decision. We will definitely order the lifting kung isa lang (if there is only one case),” he added.
Early this month, the POEA, through Governing Board Resolution No. 05-2018, has implemented a deployment ban of Filipino workers to Micronesia due to reported abuses and maltreatment.
The order cited as an example the reports back in June 2017 of OFWs’ maltreatment and abuses that led to the blacklisting of Chuuk State Hospital. (PNA)
