PH soon to deploy workers to Russia

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has started laying the ground work for the deployment of Filipino workers to Russia.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd on Tuesday said a technical working group would fly to Russia next week to discuss the terms and conditions of the bilateral labor agreement between Manila and Moscow.

“Aside from household service workers, Russia also needs skilled workers, professionals and musicians, among others,” he said, adding that the signing of a labor agreement would pave the way for the deployment of thousands of Filipino workers.

There are some 10,000 Filipino workers in Russia, but 90 percent of them are undocumented.

According to Bello, the Filipino workers arrived in Russia through third country recruitment, which is considered illegal because neither the recruiter nor the employer had proper authorization from the Philippine government.

He added that most of the Filipino workers in Russia came from Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Malaysia and China.

Bello said the Labor department is working closely with its Russian counterpart on how to legalize the stay of Filipino workers.

“During his state visit, President [Rodrigo] Duterte requested Russian President [Vladimir] Putin to legalize the stay of illegal Filipino workers in Russia. President Putin appears receptive to the idea,” the Labor chief said.

Meanwhile, Bello announced that DoLE had imposed a total ban on the deployment of workers to South Sudan because of the unstable peace and security situation and escalating violence there.