The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) clarifies on Sunday on the issue that
there is a current deployment ban of OFWs to South Korea as reported earlier, as she says
there will be only a delay, according to local news sites.
In a statement released by Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, she clarified that the
government did not impose a ban for OFW’s bound for South Korea, but rather delayed the
schedule of the 55-member of OFW, which was moved from November 30 to December 7,
2010.
The decision to ban the deployment of Filipinos to South Korea, where tension has been high
following last week’s artillery exchange between the two Koreas, will still have to be made
pending a review of the security situation there, Baldoz said.
“The government team, headed by Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo
and which the President had directed to assess the situation, had recommended this decision
as a matter of caution and prudence,” she said.
“Any further decision on the deployment of OFWs to South Korea will be reviewed after the
team of Ambassador Roy Cimatu, which has been ordered to go to South Korea to assess
the situation there, has submitted a report,” Baldoz added.
There are sixty thousand Filipino nationals in South Korea and only nine are working in North
Korea. Of the nine Filipino nationals, five are working for the United Nations, and four are
working for a foreign international tobacco company. (PIA)
