POEA imposes total deployment ban for Yemen

Amid the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has reimposed the total deployment ban in the Arab country.

“The POEA Board resolves to impose a total ban on the processing and deployment of all Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWsd) to Yemen, both returning and newly-hired, effective immediately,” said POEA Governor Board Resolution 27-2014 dated October 13.

The POEA said Alert Level 3 requires the imposition of a total deployment ban for OFWs.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had raised last Oct. 2 the alert level in Yemen from “2” to “3,” citing the unstable security situation there.

Labor and Employment secretary Rosalinda Baldoz urged the remaining OFWs in Yemen to contact the Philippine embassy there to avail of the government’s repatriation program to avoid being caught in ongoing clashes between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebel forces.

Baldoz said they are prepared to provide assistance to displaced workers, who will return to the country, through its reintegration services.

According to data from POEA, around 600 rehires were deployed in Yemen  after the government temporarily relaxed the deployment restriction in the Middle East country for 2013. (POEA)