Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Congress has recommended to the DOLE to allow continued deployment of household service workers (HSWs) and other skilled workers even to countries that may be considered “unsafe.”
“Without prejudice to negotiations for the forging of new bilateral agreement with host countries, the Congress committee on labor suggested that we continue the deployment even to countries that are just partially compliant with the requirement of our law.
“But of course we have to discuss the proposal with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) because we have to abide and implement the law.”
However, Baldoz said, the DOLE and POEA would still wait for the necessary certification of the DFA before coming out with a decision.
The new law governing the deployment of Filipino workers mandates each hiring country to be fully compliant with the requirements, she added.
Baldoz said that the DFA has classified certain countries, mostly in the Middle East as partially compliant to the requirements of the Amended Migrant Workers Act.
“Partial compliant are those countries that were able to comply with certain categories of workers, but were unable to ensure protection to vulnerable workers like HSWs,” she said.
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