Philippines pauses deployment of workers to Israel over security, safety concerns

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is pausing the deployment of workers to Israel amid its conflict with Palestinian militants.

"The actual deployment is temporarily suspended, but there is no ban and the processing of the applications are still ongoing," Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III told Philstar.com Thursday in a text message.

Bello said the suspension of deployment to Israel will continue until they are “assured of the safety of deployment.”

In an interview earlier Thursday with ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo, Bello said they will continue processing the applications of 400 domestic workers, but would not yet deploy them to Israel.

“Simula ngayon, hindi muna. Makikipagkonsulta rin ako kay [Foreign Affairs] Secretary [Teodoro] Locsin sa alert level doon. Kasi nakikita naman natin, putukan dito, putukan doon, mahirap na baka mag-deploy tayo, may mangyari, malaking pananagutan ko po,” Bello said.

(We won’t deploy them for now. I will consult with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin on the alert level there. Because we’re seeing bombings here and there, it’s difficult if we deploy workers there and something happens, I’d have to answer for that.)

In a separate statement, Bello asked caregivers and health care workers scheduled for deployment to delay their departure for a bit.

"It will just be about a few days of delay. We just want to be sure they will be safe," he said.

He added that a rapid response team is ready to mobilize once Filipino workers in Israel would need to be repatriated, although the labor chief said that no Filipino worker wants to go home just yet.

According to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, there are around 30,000 Filipino workers in Israel, 400 of whom are staying in Gaza Strip and the two cities affected by rocket attacks.

An Israeli military source told Agence France-Presse that Israel is still assessing if conditions are right to halt its air campaign against Palestinian militants in Gaza, but is preparing for “more days” of strikes if necessary. — with reports from Mayen Jamalin/The STAR and Agence France-Presse.