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US President Joe Biden cited the contributions of Filipino-Americans through the centuries but noted the selfless service and sacrifices by the nurses amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. “Filipino Americans have continued to serve and sacrifice in one of the darkest years in our history, selflessly working on the widespread frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Biden in a statement

The Philippine government is considering suspending the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to Saudi Arabia to press for the repatriation of two OFWs hired by a former general as domestic helpers. Rolly Francia, director of the Department of Labor and Employment Information and Public Service, said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office recommended to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to suspend the

New York’s plan to hire more healthcare workers abroad, including from the Philippines, would provide opportunities for more Filipino nurses. Malacañang on Monday This, as the US northeastern state braced for healthcare staff shortages amid its implementation of mandatory vaccination on healthcare professionals. “Hindi naman natin maikakaila na mas mataas talaga ang sahod ng mga nurses sa Estados Unidos, we

The Department of Labor and Employment on Wednesday said it is mulling a temporary deployment ban to Saudi Arabia following reports of maltreatment of overseas Filipino workers there. DOLE-Information and Publication Service (IPS) director Rolly Francia said 16 OFWs were allegedly abused by their employer, a retired military general in Saudi Arabia. Two of the 16 OFWs are still in

A Filipino seafarer who remains stranded in Fiji, New Zealand has exposed the illegal activities of the manning agency that sent them overseas and eventually abandoned them without pay. Fourth Engineer John Iyod Restauro narrated to The Manila Times how Able Maritime Seafarers Inc. deceived him numerous times during his pre-employment and deployment procedures. “I got to know Able Maritime

Within 12 months between March 2020 and March 2021, Kuwait’s labor market lost 199,000 non-Kuwaiti workers from over 15 different activities, reports Al-Qabas daily. According to the labor market system report, the real-estate sector witnessed the highest loss of workers with a total of 53,000 workers leaving the country, followed by the wholesale and retail trade sector, and the vehicle

A group of manning agencies in the country is seeking help from President Rodrigo Duterte to extend the cap for arriving returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW), as many of the Filipino seafarers are now already experiencing fatigue after serving beyond their contracts in international vessels. Aside from this, the 59 licensed manning agencies (LMA), under the Association of Licensed Manning

More than a thousand Filipino workers in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Monday asked the Philippine government to lift the deployment ban on the country’s Northern territory so they could come home for Christmas. The Department of Foreign Affairs enforced a worker deployment ban to Iraq in January 2019. In a letter to the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad, the Samahan ng

LABOR Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) will sign a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom on the welfare and deployment of more nurses to the UK. In an online briefing Wednesday, Mr. Bello said that the memorandum is a “labor affairs agreement” to deploy more Filipino nurses to the UK. London

The deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) has been picking up this year and is reaching 70,000 per month despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said Tuesday. POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said that of this number, 30,000 are land-based while the other 40,000 are sea-based. “From a drop of 74% last year, our deployment is picking