The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has barred Filipinos from working at the following countries effective immediately:
- Afghanistan
- Chad
- Cuba
- Haiti
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Niger
- Somalia
- Zimbabwe
“All POEA operating units are hereby directed to temporarily hold the processing of documents of workers bound for the identified non-compliant countries,” POEA Administrator Hans Cacdac reportedly said in a report by the Philippine Star.
The Commission on Audit (COA) made the recommendation to the POEA about the non-compliant countries to the Amended Migrant Workers Act, which lists countries and territories certified by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as safe and eligible to provide protection for Filipino workers and requires bilateral agreements between the Philippines and host countries to ensure desirable working conditions of Filipino workers.
At present, 194 countries are certified as compliant to the provisions of the Amended Migrant Workers Act.
The POEA has lifted the ban on deployment of Filipino workers to Sierra Leone.
