POEA board to discuss lifting of deployment ban to Lebanon

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration’s (POEA) governing board will meet next week to decide whether or not to lift the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Lebanon. POEA administrator Jennifer Manalili told GMANews.TV on Thursday that the board will rely on the recommendation of Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). “If they recommend that it’s already OK, then we will consider it," said Manalili. DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr said the department will only provide a security assessment on countries with existing deployment bans, but the decision to lift the sanctions rests on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). If the ban is partially lifted, Filipino workers who have been previously employed to Lebanon would be allowed to return to the same employers. The DOLE stopped the sending of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Lebanon when fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces broke out in mid-2006. About 6,000 Filipinos, mostly domestics, were flown back to the Philippines at the time. According to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, nearly two of every three OFWs evacuated from Lebanon in 2006 were undocumented. Suggestions have been made lately for the government to lift the ban on Lebanon since the fighting have long ceased. Last August, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque partially eased the ban and allowed returning household service workers (HSWs) in Jordan. Newly hired Filipino domestics, however, are still not allowed to enter the Middle East country. The government stopped the sending of Filipino workers to Jordan upon recommendation of the Philippine Embassy, which was alarmed by the rising number of Filipino women victimized by abusive employers. The partial lifting of the deployment ban was implemented after the Jordanian government assured that HSWs would receive a salary of at least $400 every month. Last month, Salah Jaber, a lawyer of the Ta’amneh law firm in Jordan, told GMANews.TV that the Jordanian government seeks to include migrant workers, particularly domestic helpers, in its labor law and secure their protection from various forms of exploitation and abuse. Once implemented, Filipino domestic workers will be entitled to a minimum wage pay of 150 Jordanian dinar, equivalent to P10,580. Aside from this, workers will be entitled to a maximum of eight hours per day working schedule and a day a week day off. - GMANews.TV