Gov't eyes more agreements with Middle East countries

MANILA, Philippines -  The government is eyeing to forge more bilateral agreements to ensure continued hiring and additional protection for Filipino workers in various Middle East countries.

Labor Undersecretary Danilo Cruz said yesterday labor ministers from various Middle East countries are coming to the country in April and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) intends to sign new bilateral agreements with them.

“We have accepted the hosting of the next Abu Dhabi Conference in April and about 20 labor ministers, mostly from Middle East are attending the dialogue,” Cruz said.

DOLE aims to use the occasion to enter into new bilateral agreements with those labor receiving countries attending the event, Cruz disclosed.

Cruz noted that most of the countries in the Middle East have no existing bilateral agreement with the Philippines, although they have been hiring highly skilled Filipino workers for so many years.

“As far as I know, we only have existing bilateral agreements with United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar and recently with Jordan and Lebanon, while the rest such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Omman and Bahrain we don’t have any,” Cruz pointed out.

He added the existing bilateral agreement with the UAE is about to expire and the Philippine government intends to negotiate a new one.

According to Cruz, the country needs to forge bilateral agreements with receiving countries to ensure continued deployment of Filipino workers there.

The newly amended Migrant Workers Act, he said, prohibits the deployment of workers to countries without existing bilateral agreements with the Philippines.

Cruz explained the bilateral agreements ensure additional protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who will be deployed.

Meanwhile, the local recruitment industry cautioned aspiring OFWs against accepting job offers in Afghanistan.

Recruitment leaders said there are now jobs for Filipinos in Afghanistan but the government has yet to lift the deployment ban there.

They also noted that an illegal recruiter offering non-existent jobs in Afghanistan has been arrested recently, but not after victimizing quite a number of prospective OFWs.