Vatican, Monaco safe destinations for OFWs

MANILA, Philippines - The government has declared the Vatican and Monaco as “safe destinations” for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz yesterday said the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has approved a resolution allowing deployment of workers to the two countries.

“Monaco and Vatican are now included in the list of more than 180 countries certified as compliant with the requirements of the Migrants Workers Act and therefore allowed to hire OFWs,” Baldoz said.

She said the POEA came out with the resolution based on the recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Earlier, the POEA ordered a ban on the deployment of OFWs to 15 countries after the DFA found them noncompliant with the requirements of the law.

These countries are Afghanistan, Chad, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea/North Korea, Eritrea, Haiti, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Nepal, Niger, Palestine, Somalia, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe.

Total deployment ban remains in effect in Iraq, except in the Kurdistan region.

Labor officials are confident that the deployment ban in 15 countries would not adversely affect the hiring of OFWs since those are not among the Philippines’ major markets for workers deployment.