MANILA – The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on Friday reported it is processing the applications of some 500 nurses for deployment abroad.
“Since the approval of the expanded exemption in the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) resolution on temporary suspension, we are currently processing for deployment of not more than 500 nurses,” POEA administrator Bernard Olalia said during a Laging Handa briefing.
This came as President Rodrigo Duterte approved the proposal to expand exemptions from the deployment ban for health workers who have overseas contracts and complete travel documents as of August 31.
At the same time, the POEA chief added that some countries employing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are slowly easing their respective travel restrictions and lockdowns.
He reported that job opportunities would be available to Filipinos in the Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canada, among others.
“Slowly some destination labor countries are opening for example the Middle East. Earlier, Bahrain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) announced that they are ready to accept foreign workers, particularly our beloved OFWs. The in-demand jobs are for skilled workers,” Olalia said. “In Asia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Brunei have also opened, in demand are our skilled workers and they are also hiring household service workers (HSWs).”
He added that Canada and the United Kingdom are slowly accepting foreign workers, the in-demand workers are healthcare workers such as nurses.
“The most preferred foreign workers are our OFWs,” he added.
Also, Cuba is hiring construction workers who would be deployed in Guantanamo Bay.
“Our land-based jobs are slowly opening up. The sea-based industry or what we call as seafarers is also gradually normalizing deployment,” he added.