Safety of OFWs main concern in lifting of Nigeria ban - POEA

MANILA, Philippines - To lift, or not to lift? Members of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) governing board are meeting any time soon to decide whether to lift an order banning Filipinos from traveling to Nigeria. POEA Administrator Jennifer Manalili said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has tossed the question to the governing board amid a clamor by Filipinos working in Nigeria to remove the restrictions. Migrant groups such as the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) have also said that most of the Filipinos in Nigeria are safe and happily working and living there since the 1970s. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stopped the deployment of Filipino workers to Nigeria in 2006 after rebels started seizing ships and their crew, among them Filipino seamen. In addition to Nigeria, the government also banned OFWs from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Jordan. The ban on Lebanon and Jordan were lifted last month following recommendations from the DFA that it was now safe to allow OFWs to resume working in the two Mideastern countries. The DFA, however, wanted the ban on Nigeria to stay because of the latest hijacking incident there, in which three Filipino seamen where held captive. “Ang issue lang naman talaga dito [The only issue here] is how to ensure the safety of our workers," said POEA Administrator Manalili. She said the government still does not know how to keep Filipinos in Nigeria from stumbling into dangerous areas. “This is one [of the] considerations that the POEA governing board is looking at before they decide to lift [the ban] or not," said Manalili. The POEA board is chaired by Labor Secretary Marianito Roque and the POEA administrator is its vice chairman. The board has representatives from the manpower and OFW sectors. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV