Workers may fly to Israel, Gaza again—DOLE

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz

The Department of Labor and Employment has lifted the deployment ban to the Gaza Strip and parts of Israel, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said over the weekend.

Baldoz said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) board allowed the deployment of new hires to the Gaza Strip and the southern and central Israel towns and cities of Sderot, Beersheva, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

“We issued the resolution based on the recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) which lifted its alert level 2 status for southern and central Israel and alert level 4 status for the Gaza Strip,” Baldoz said.

Aside from Baldoz, POEA Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac, governing board chairman, and board members Alexander E. Asuncion and Guillermina T. Gabor signed the resolution lifting the deployment ban.

The ban was imposed after the DFA on Nov. 20 raised its alert level in the Gaza Strip to level 4 and in southern and central Israel to level 2 due to the armed conflict between the Hamas and the Israelis.

“The DFA recommended the lifting of the above Alert Levels in view of reports from the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv that the situation in Israel has stabilized and that the ceasefire agreement announced on 21 November 2012 continues to be observed by both sides,” said the POEA governing board resolution.

Baldoz said that under Republic Act No. 10022, the POEA Governing Board, after consultations with the DFA, is authorized to impose or lift a ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to any country.