The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has banned the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to Myanmar stating that the southeast Asian nation can’t afford healthcare of OFWs during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic due to political turmoil.
The POEA said in a statement in its Facebook post that the ban was for all OFWs including crew changes and shore leaves of Filipino seafarers.
The Governing Board of the POEA chaired by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III, issued the order after the Philippine Embassy in Yangon and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) raised the alert status for Myanmar to Level 4 (evacuation/mandatory repatriation phase).
RELATED STORY: OFW in Myanmar dies due to COVID-19
POEA chief Bernard Olalia said that this followed as the Philippine Embassy in Yangon and the DFA notified that the healthcare system in the country was “close to reaching its maximum capacity and may not be able to provide adequate medical attention to Filipinos.”
The mandatory evacuation of OFWs in Myanmar was also stated in the notice to safeguard the health and safety of Filipinos, he added.
The POEA also directed the Philippine recruitment agencies to coordinate with their respective partner employers on the conditions of their deployed workers and repatriate them back home.
READ ON: Myanmar bans use of Facebook, other messaging services
The agency had temporarily prohibited the deployment of new OFWs to Myanmar in June due to the the political unrest after the Feb 1 military coup when the civilian government was overthrown.
The unrest has hit the country’s healthcare system as health workers who were part of the anti-military coup movement fear their return to work will get them arrested by the military junta.
The country on Wednesday recorded 6,093 new infections taking its active COVID positive cases to over 70,000. (AW)
