Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III on Thursday lifted the
moratorium on the deployment of Filipino workers to Qatar upon
consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and upon
recommendation of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
“This decision was arrived at on the advise of Foreign Affairs
Secretary Allan Peter Cayetano and upon the recommendation of
Qatar POLO following their assessment of the situation in the Gulf
state,” Bello said.
Saying the situation has normalized, Labor Attaché David Des
Dicang and the Philippine Embassy even requested the
deployment of newly-hired workers to Qatar, particularly to the
Philippine School Doha (PSD) and Philippine International SchoolQatar
(PISQ).
“We respectfully request to allow the deployment so as not to
hamper the operations of our Philippine schools and to allay fears
of the revocation of their school permits issued by the Qatar
government,” Dicang said.
A total of 28 new teachers and 20 bus drivers of PSD and 51 new
teachers of PISQ have pending applications with the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
The Philippine Embassy and POLO also recommended the
deployment of an Assessment Team composed of DOLE, POEA,
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the
Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs of DFA to Qatar to
meet with the government authorities and companies providing
employment to Filipino workers.
POLO is also continuously coordinating with the Qatari authorities
to discuss possible difficulties regarding the repatriation of
distressed OFWs temporarily accommodated at the Migrant
Workers and other Overseas Filipinos Resource Center
(MWOFRC), and are looking into the possible situation of
Household Service Worker (HSWs) of non-Qatari employers, who
will be left in the country or will be forced to travel with their
employers.
Also, the Qatari government guaranteed the safety of around
240,000 Filipinos in Qatar and affirmed that they have the ability
to withstand any possible economic shocks out of the diplomatic
impasse with its neighboring Arab countries.
Meanwhile, OFWs in Qatar have expressed confidence for their
safety with the strengthened efforts of the labor department and
other concerned government agencies in ensuring their basic
welfare and security amid the diplomatic crisis.
Bello ordered the temporary suspension in the deployment of
OFWs to Qatar last week to secure the welfare and security of
OFWs in case of any eventuality after some neighboring Arab
states cut diplomatic ties with the Gulf state.
Source: POEA