Government resumes deployment to Guinea

MANILA, Philippines - The government resumed the deployment of workers to Guinea over a year after imposing a deployment ban on the West African country, an official said yesterday.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has approved a resolution lifting the deployment ban in Guinea after consulting with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“The POEA will now resume processing and deployment of Filipino workers, both vacationing and new hires,” Baldoz noted.

She, however, said Filipinos who will work in Guinea are still advised to take precautions during their stay.

The DFA lowered from 3 to 1 the crisis alert level in Guinea after the World Health Organization declared that the situation there has improved since the Ebola epidemic broke out over a year ago.

The POEA previously lifted the deployment ban and resumed the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to two other countries – Liberia and Sierra Leone – affected by the Ebola outbreak in 2014.

Baldoz said the POEA has also allowed deployment to South Sudan of Filipinos who will be hired by Pacific Architects and Engineers Inc. (PAE) to work on projects with the US State Department.

The DOLE chief, however, said the POEA is maintaining the deployment ban in South Sudan for other types of workers.

Aside from PAE workers, only those Filipino workers hired by UN organizations with clearance from the DFA are allowed to travel and temporarily stay in South Sudan.

“The hiring of workers to South Sudan is subject to employer’s assumption of responsibility for timely and safe evacuation should the security situation in South Sudan demand (it),” Baldoz said.