Deployment ban in 18 countries lifted - POEA

MANILA, Philippines - The government has finally allowed the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to at least 18 countries previously declared “unsafe” destinations for OFWs.

Administrator Hans Cacdac of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said the governing board has already approved a resolution allowing deployment of OFWs to 31 more countries.

“The POEA governing board passed a resolution allowing deployment of OFWs to 31 more countries that were declared compliant by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),” he said.

Cacdac said that after a thorough review, the DFA has reversed previous “unsafe” assessment and declared as fully compliant the 18 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Dominica, India, Nauru, Pakistan, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Tonga, Turks and Caicos, Tuvalu, US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.

Other compliant countries include Andorra, Bulgaria, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Honduras, Moldova, Nicaragua, Samoa, Singapore, and Thailand.

With the inclusion of the 31, a total of 155 countries are now considered compliant and therefore allowed to continue hiring Filipino workers, Cacdac said.

However, a deployment ban remains in Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, he added.

Under the amended Migrant Workers Act, the DFA must assess the ability of hiring countries to provide protection for Filipino workers.