Deployment to Israel resumes once OFWs’ safety assured: DOLE

MANILA – Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Thursday assured that the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to Israel will resume once the situation there becomes stable.

“We have to be very sure, if we deploy our OFWs, we need to assure that they are safe and that is what I’m waiting for, an advice from Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin, Jr. and our labor attaché as to the security situation there. The moment the situation there is clear and we are sure of the safety of our OFWs, I will immediately issue the order deploying them,” Bello said in a Palace briefing.

At the same time, he reported that more Filipino workers are needed in the host country particularly in the health and tourism sectors.

“Our workers are very much needed. They are asking for 5,000 caregivers and hotel workers,” Bello said.

Last week, Philippine Ambassador to Israel Macairog Alberto said the majority of OFWs living in the Jewish state are now back to their normal lives.

A ceasefire brokered by Egypt ended the exchange of offensives between Israeli forces and Palestinian militant group Hamas on May 21.

Bello, meanwhile, said he will request vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez to reconsider the four-month period given to OFWs for them to be vaccinated since the deployment process requires flexible time.

At the same time, he thanked Galvez for including OFWs in the A1 vaccination priority list.

“I’m asking Secretary Galvez to remove the colatilla of within four months for OFWs as the deployment process is different for example, our seafarers, if they are employed by a cruise ship, every time they are needed they have to go. So always they have to be ready, our OFWs,” Bello said.

Before the inclusion of OFWs in the A1 list, only medical front-liners are at the top of the government’s vaccination priority population.