The Philippine and Israeli governments vowed to speed up the deployment of 500 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) mostly working in hotels in the first week of April.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said that Philippine Ambassador to Israel Macairog Alberto met officials of the Israel Hotel Association (IHA) to ensure that the workers arrive in Israel before the Passover and Holy Week.
The two events were considered to be peak holidays in Israel that draw thousands of visitors to the country.
“As Israel reopens its tourism industry, allows the entry of both vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers, and eases its travel and health restrictions, its hotel sector will require a full workforce to cater to the expected influx of tourists to the Holy Land,” the department said in a statement.
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“The project is under the 2018 Philippines-Israel labor agreement for a government-to-government arrangement for Filipino hotel workers for Israel,” the DFA added.
The IHA said that its members may need 10,000 workers and ready to hire at least 800 Filipino workers and will be increased to 2,000.
The Embassy said that it is working closely with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as well as with Israeli labor and immigration authorities for the earliest deployment of Filipino workers.
“The ambassador also proposed that Israeli hotels also take in Filipino students [for] on-the-job training programs, which the IHA positively received and committed to consider after the initial deployment of Filipino workers have been accomplished,” the DFA added.
