OFW deployment ban to Thailand lifted

With the downgrading of the Crisis Alert Level in Thailand from 2 to 1, the Philippine government has lifted the ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) there.

In a statement Monday, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration's (POEA) Governing Board has issued a resolution allowing the resumption of the processing and deployment of OFWs to Thailand.

She said this covers both vacationing and newly hired OFWs.

“With the Department of Foreign Affairs' lowering the crisis alert level in Thailand from Alert Level 2 (Restriction Phase) to Alert Level 1 (Precautionary Phase) due to the observation of the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok that the situation in the said country has 'returned mostly to normal,' the POEA Governing Board has issued a resolution lifting the ban,” said Baldoz, who chairs the board.

The deployment ban took effect on May 21 after the DFA raised Crisis Alert Level 2 in Thailand following the declaration of martial law there. The alert level was downgraded last week.

Baldoz assured the public that her department “continuously works closely with the DFA in monitoring the situation in Thailand, and in all OFW-countries of destination which are having conflicts to ensure the welfare and protection of our OFWs.”

“We are not taking any chances when OFW safety and welfare are at stake,” she said. —KBK, GMA News