MANILA: Secretary of Labour and Employment Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz has announced that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Governing Board has ordered a ban on the processing and deployment of all returning/vacationing overseas Filipino workers bound for Afghanistan, following the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) issuance of Crisis Alert Level 3 (Voluntary Repatriation Phase) for Afghanistan, where there has been tension following a presidential election.
Governing Board Resolution Number 15, Series of 2014, was signed by DOLE Secretary and POEA board Chairman Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, POEA Administrator and Vice-Chair of the Governing Board Hans Leo J Cacdac, and members Felix M Oca, Estrelita S Hizon, Alexander E Asuncion, and Milagros Isabel A Cristobal.
The deployment ban on new recruits for Afghanistan provided under Governing Board Resolution Number 8 issued on December 17, 2007 is still in effect.
In a letter to Baldoz, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert E Del Rosario stated that Alert Level 3 is issued when violent disturbances or external aggression occur in a limited area.
“Filipinos are enjoined to return to the country. However, the cost of repatriation must be borne by their respective companies,” Secretary Del Rosario stated in his letter.
The Philippine Embassy in Islamabad estimated that there were around 5,250 Filipinos in Afghanistan, mostly working for US contractors. In 2013, POEA records revealed that they were mostly composed of production supervisors and general foremen, production workers, machine fitters and assemblers, stock clerks, engineers, transport equipment operators, electrical wiremen and electrical and engineering technicians.
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