Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said that the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Israel remains suspended amid the ceasefire in the Middle Eastern country.
“The problem is the conflict there. I cannot afford if one of our countrymen has been a victim. So we came up with the decision to suspend deployment,” Bello said in an online forum.
Bello said that he’s giving another week to study the situation in Israel.
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“But there is no ban. There is suspension of the process of getting deployed. We continue to process them but they will not be deployed, we will observe first the situation in Israel especially in Gaza,” he added.
Bello asked the patience of around 400 Filipino caregivers who were set to be deployed.
“To our 400 fellow Filipinos, let’s just wait for a while. Your papers are being processed. When the situation is clear and safe then we will deploy you without further delay,” he said.
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Bello added that majority of the OFWs are Israel-bound and only a few are going to Gaza.
“Give us two to three weeks. We have to be very sure that our OFWs are safe when they arrive there,” he said. (TDT)
