Yemen deployment ban lifted

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with existing employment contracts in Yemen can now return to their work as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has officially lifted the deployment ban there.

“The POEA Governing Board … has approved … the redeployment of Filipino workers returning to Yemen, subject to proof of existing employment as determined by the POEA,” Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said in a statement published on the POEA website Tuesday.

The lifting of the ban follows the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) lowering of the crisis alert level in Yemen last February 12 from level 3, which entails voluntary repatriation to level 2 which urges OFWs to restrict essential movement.

“However, the POEA board is maintaining its ban on newly-hired OFWs until further advice,” Baldoz said citing POEA Governing Board Resolution No. 2

There are 2,191 permanent, temporary, and irregular OFWs in Yemen, according to the December 2012 figures of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Majority of the Filipinos in Yemen (2,111) are temporary.

The Yemen government is faced with rebel groups who want to establish their own independent state.

Suspected Al Qaeda members are also believed to be operating in the country.

Last December 2013, seven Filipino medical workers were killed in an attack by a suicide bomber on the Yemen defense ministry complex.

A total of 52 people were killed and more than 160 others were injured from the bombing and subsequent shootout between government forces and the assailants believed to be members of Al Qaeda.

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