OFW deployment to Qatar fully resumes

MANILA — No more deployment ban for Filipino workers in Qatar.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III lifted on Thursday the moratorium on the deployment of newly hired Filipino workers to Qatar.

“This decision was arrived at on the advice of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and upon the recommendation of the Qatar Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) following their assessment of the situation in the Gulf state,” Bello said in a statement.

Bello earlier ordered the temporary suspension of the deployment of OFWs to Qatar to secure the welfare and security of OFWs in case of any event after some neighboring Arab states cut diplomatic ties with the Gulf state.

Also, the Qatari government guaranteed the safety of around 240,000 Filipinos in Qatar and affirmed their capability to withstand any possible economic shocks out of the diplomatic impasse with its neighboring Arab countries, he added.

Saying the situation has normalized, Labor Attaché David Des Dicang and the Philippine Embassy even requested the deployment of newly hired workers to Qatar, particularly to the Philippine School Doha (PSD) and Philippine International School-Qatar (PISQ).

“We respectfully request to allow the deployment so as not to hamper the operations of our Philippine schools and to allay fears of the revocation of their school permits issued by the Qatar government,”
Dicang said.

A total of 28 new teachers and 20 bus drivers of the PSD and 51 new teachers of the PISQ have pending applications with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

The Philippine Embassy and POLO also recommended the deployment of an assessment team composed of DOLE, POEA, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the undersecretary for migrant workers affairs of the DFA to Qatar to meet with the government authorities and companies providing employment to Filipino workers.

“POLO is also continually coordinating with the Qatari authorities to discuss possible difficulties regarding the repatriation of distressed OFWs temporarily accommodated at the Migrant Workers and other Overseas Filipinos Resource Center (MWOFRC),” Bello said.

He added that they have started looking into the possible situation of household service workers (HSWs) of non-Qatari employers, who would be left in the country or would be forced to travel with their employers.  SFM/rga

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