Gov’t urged to lift ban on worker deployment to Bahrain

MANILA, Philippines: A migrant rights group has started a signature drive among overseas Filipino workers to try to convince the government to lift the partial ban on deployment for workers to Bahrain.

Migrante-Middle East said it had received numerous requests for assistance from OFWs and “several new hires” who could not travel to Bahrain to return to work or report to their new employers as a result of the ban.

“There are several new hires... requesting us to make representation to the concerned Philippine authorities to allow them to travel in Bahrain so that they could report to their respective work amid high rate of unemployment in the Philippines and spiraling prices of goods and services,” John Leonard Monterona, the group's regional coordinator, said.

On April 16, Migrante-Middle East sent a letter to Ambassador Corazon Yap-Bahjin urging her to consider lowering the alert on Bahrain, thus allowing OFWs who want to go to that Middle Eastern country.

It also asked Bahjin to scrap the waiver requirement imposed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency as a condition for OFWs returning to Bahrain.

Migrante said the government “can’t relinquish its primary responsibility of protecting its own Filipino workers abroad.”