Gov’t hastens dispatch of hotel workers

The government is scrambling to deploy around 500 Filipino hotel workers who have jobs waiting for them in Israel, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The initial batch of workers will hopefully be deployed by the first week of April, ahead of Passover and Holy Week, both peak holidays and tourist-draws for the country. It added that the project is under the 2018 Philippines-Israel labor agreement for a government-to-government arrangement for Filipino hotel workers for Israel. Philippine Ambassador to Israel Macairog Alberto said members of the Israel Hotel Association may require up to 10,000 workers and expressed readiness to hire 800 Filipino hotel workers, which will then be increased to 2,000 at the earliest opportunity. —TINA G. SANTOS