The labor department has assured overseas Filipino workers in the United Arab Emirates that no deportation will happen amid news circulating online that the Middle Eastern country will deport all foreign workers starting April 2019.
Citing a report from the International Labor Affairs Bureau, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III doused rumors being spread online causing confusion and anxiety to a number of deployed workers in the UAE.
According to the article, foreign workers in 35 job categories who are over the age of 40 will be terminated and deported to give opportunity to UAE nationals, especially the young graduates, and solve the country’s unemployment crisis.
Among the occupations mentioned are pharmacist, medical secretary, administrative clerk, human resource officer, receptionist, treasurer, librarian, security guard, purchasing manager, debt collector, cashier, tour guide, etc.
In a report to ILAB, Labor Attache Alejandro Padaen of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Abu Dhabi quoted an official of the emirate that the news is not true. Padaen said Dr. Omar Abulrahman Salem Alnuami, Assistant Secretary for Communication and International Relations of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) told him the story is “fake news.”
Another emirate official, Asmaa Alamadani, the executive director of MOHRE’s International Bilateral Relations Department, spoke to Labor Attache Felicitas Bay of POLO Dubai, who assured her that news is “not true at all.”
The article also circulated in other Gulf Cooperation Council countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Oman.