Health-care workers’ deployment ban up for review amid protests

THE inclusion of health workers with already existing contracts in the controversial deployment ban issued last week by authorities should be seriously reconsidered, according to the chairman of the Senate Labor committee, as the Cabinet was expected to tackle the issue on Monday.

Otherwise, if the State pushes through with such a “sweeping” ban, the Departments of Health and of Labor should be prepared to absorb them and find them good jobs with “commensurate” packages, to avoid adding them to the increasing numbers of displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWS), said Sen. Joel Villanueva.

“While we believe that under the circumstances [the Covid-19 crisis], the State can suspend deployment of medical personnel, and the right to travel is not absolute, the government should also carefully study its impact on health-care workers with existing contracts and who have only temporarily went home for their annual vacation,” Villanueva asserted on Sunday, in reply to a query from the Businessmirror.

The senator’s reaction was sought as a public outcry—from labor groups and from Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., greeted the move of the Bureau of Immigration last week to bar from boarding their flights those OFWS with existing contracts in hospitals and medical facilities in the United Kingdom (UK), most

of whom had been caught in the Philippines by the lockdown while on vacation.

Locsin, however, came to the defense of the immigration bureau, saying Commissioner Jaime Morente’s hands were tied by the “unconstitutional” resolution imposed on him by higher-ups.

Locsin promised to help resolve the issue at the Cabinet level amid protests that the ban—even on those with existing contracts—violated their constitutional right to travel and their right against forced labor.

He said he will raise the issue before the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on Monday.

This was confirmed by POEA administrator Bernard Olalia, who said they will be ready to justify the legality of their resolution.

Labor Secretary and the POEA Governing Board’s head Silvestre H. Bello III, however, said they will comply with whatever the IATF will decide on the matter.

Displaced OFWS

THERE was concern also that forcingthis category of health workers (those with existing contracts) to stay in the country would further swell the number of OFWS displaced from dozens of countries by the pandemic.

As of Saturday (April 11), the DFA reported it had repatriated nearly 12,000 displaced OFWS just from the seafaring sector alone, as Covid-19 paralyzed the operations of cruise ships across the globe.

Private think tanks earlier estimated that as many as 200,000 to 300,000 OFWS could be displaced in dozens of countries, both from the pandemic and the plunging oil prices that impact Middle East economies hosting Filipino workers.

Villanueva said on Sunday that, “If our government presses forward with the sweeping ban on the exit of Filipino healthcare workers, even if they have live contracts, our labor department, in coordination with the Department of Health, should be prepared to take them into our health-care system at the very least.”

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) “must track them and make plans for their integration into our health-care system while the state of emergency prevails, and ensure they are compensated in a commensurate manner,” the senator added.

He also appealed to the DFA “to provide assistance to our overseas health-care workers to contact their respective employers abroad to sort out the issue and ensure that they will still have jobs to return to once the deployment ban is lifted.”

Locsin’s intervention had been sought by UK Ambassador to Manila Daniel Pruce, who expressed concern over the barring of the Filipino health workers with already existing contracts in UK.

Filipino health workers have been singled out for praise for their professionalism in helping that country deal with the pandemic, as many of them work with the UK government’s National Health Service (NHS).

Villanueva warned that, “if there is no proactive and parallel effort to track them down and encourage them to work in our healthcare system, the government should rethink its policy, and instead allow the exit of those health-care workers with existing contracts, and the ban should only cover new contracts.”

Few jobs, small aid

ALSO on Sunday, a labor coalition said only a handful of job opportunities and a small cash aid from the government await Filipino medical workers who will be affected by the temporary ban imposed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) during the Covid-19 crisis.

Nagkaisa issued the statement on Sunday as it demanded the lifting of the deployment ban.

POEA issued on April 2, 2020 its Governing Board (GB) resolution 9 imposing the ban for 14 medical categories, supposedly to help ensue the government will have a sufficient pool of healthcare workers for the Covid-19 measures.

Lack of vacancies

NAGKAISA, however, said POEA failed to justify such shortage by citing the Department of Health (DOH) web site, which showed there were only 15 vacancies for healthcare workers available. Of which, three are for a part-time position.

Nagkaisa Chairman Sonny Matula noted that while POEA through the DOLE has the power to “restrict and regulate overseas recruitment and placement” as ruled by the Supreme Court in the case of PASEI vs Drilon, it should be backed by a compelling cause.

“In this case, there were no calls to military or civil service [for the overseas bound medical workers]. Without notice, they were asked to be off loaded from their f lights on the pretext that there is a ban,” Matula told Businessmirror in a SMS.

Nagkaisa insists the government should finally stop bandaid measures to address the labor shortage in the country’s healthcare system by hiring more medical workers.

“It is for this reason that Nagkaisa! insists that the government hire health workers in the civil service and not rely on volunteers —or resort to a sweeping ban on deployment of all health workers including those who are already employed abroad,” Nagkaisa said in its statement,

In a television interview, Olalia said they are now coordinating with DOH to provide more employment opportunities for the OFWS affected by the deployment ban.

Last week, at least 20 Filipino nurses returning to jobs in the UK were not allowed to leave the country at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) because of the POEA ban.

Olalia said there could be more affected OFWS since the ban also covers new hires, direct hires, and those under government-to-government arrangements.

He said they may avail themselves of the P10,000 cash aid from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration’s (OW WA) Abot K amay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) program.