The government may soon lift the deployment suspension of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) to Israel.
In an online press briefing on Wednesday, Labor and Employment Silvestre H. Bello III said the security situation in Israel now appears to be safe for OFWs.
He said they are now just waiting for official assessment of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on the security situation in Israel before the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) decides to lift the deployment suspension.
“Anytime now, we will now if the POEA Governing Board will lift the temporary deployment suspension,” Bello said.
In anticipation of the deployment resumption to Israel by the middle of the month, he instructed POEA to resume processing OFWs bound for Israel.
“They could start processing so once their is a recommendation from the Department of Foreign Affairs to the situation in Israel and Hamas then it will just be a matter of the final touching of bases in the issuance of their OEC (overseas employment certificate),” Bello said.
An OEC is an exit clearance document issued by POEA to OFWs before they could work abroad.
Bello estimated about 1,000 OFWs will be benefit from the lifting of the deployment suspension.
DOLE imposed the deployment suspension for Israel and deployment ban at the Gaza strip last week amid the escalating armed conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Both forces finally declared a ceasefire last May, but DOLE opted to postpone the immediate lifting of the deployment suspension stating it still needs more time to assess the security situation Israel.