No new jobs for Pinoys in Afghanistan

MANILA, Philippines -  The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday that there are no new jobs for Filipinos in Afghanistan despite the partial lifting of the deployment ban.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said foreign contractors operating in the US military base in Afghanistan are just re-hiring foreign workers who are already there and not employing new ones.

She also said the partial lifting of the ban only covers re-hires and that newly hired workers are still banned from working in Afghanistan until this time.

The labor department issued the clarification after recruitment industry leaders said they received reports that illegal recruitment syndicates have been going to some provinces in Central Luzon and promising construction workers that they can bring them to Dubai and transit them to Kabul, where high-paying jobs in the US base await them.

They said the US Military Central Command has allowed private contractors to extend the work contracts or letters of appointment for Filipinos way beyond 2011 though these contracts are for six months mostly and renewable at the option of the company and the employee.

Some returning workers to Afghanis­tan, however, are complaining that they are having difficulty securing from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) the documents necessary for their return to the Kandahar Airfields.

The workers claimed that prior to the issuance of an e-visa, POEA is requiring them to submit an original visa, which foreign contractors have already stopped using for vacationing workers.