POEA allows deployment of Pinoy workers to 31 more countries

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) allowed the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to 31 countries that were found to be compliant with the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.

The countries include:
- Andorra;
- Antigua and Barbuda;
- Barbados;
- Bulgaria;
- Cambodia;
- Cayman Islands;
- Croatia;
- Djibouti;
- Dominica;
- El Salvador;
- Egypt;
- Ethiopia;
- Georgia;
- Honduras;
- India;
- Moldova;
- Nauru;
- Nicaragua;
- Pakistan;
- Samoa;
- Singapore;
- St. Kitts and Nevis;
- St. Lucia;
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
- Sudan;
- Thailand;
- Tonga;
- Turks and Caicos;
- Tuvalu;
- US Virgin Islands, and
- Vanuatu.

The POEA said there are now 155 countries compliant with the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.

“On the basis of the amended/new certifications issued by the foreign posts, the 31 countries were identified as compliant with the protection guarantees as provided by the law,” said
POEA Governing Board Resolution No. 7-2012, issued on May 22.

Earlier, the POEA refused the deployment of OFWs to some countries found non-compliant to Republic Act 10022 or the "Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995."

Section 3 of amended Migrant Workers Act states that the Philippine government will only allow deployment if:
- the host country “has existing labor and social laws protecting the rights of workers;
- a signatory to and/or a ratifier of multilateral conventions, declarations or resolutions on the protection of workers, and
- concluded a bilateral agreement or arrangement with the government on the protection of the rights of OFWs.

Source: GMA News