Binay wants deployment ban on healthcare workers probed

Sen. Nancy Binay has sought a Senate inquiry on the government’s temporary deployment ban on healthcare workers that has been imposed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF). Binay made the call through Senate Resolution No. 514 after Immigration officials barred seven Filipino nurses bound for United Kingdom where they have employment contracts from leaving the Philippines despite their supposed exemption from the ban. POEA and IATF, Binay said, ought to provide specific guidelines on their policy on the deployment ban. “Nais nating malaman kung ano ang naging guidance ng POEA at IATF sa kanilang policy on the deployment ban (We want to know what are the specific guideliens of the POEA and the IATF regarding this deployment ban policy),” Binay said. “'Yung latest incident na in-offload sa eroplano ang ilang (The latest offloading incident involving) UK-bound nurses only shows that the policy is disjointed and conflicting and its implementation is prone to lapses,” she added. Binay had earlier urged the lifting of the deployment ban and insisted that the government has no right to prevent healthcare workers from working abroad to provide for the needs of their families. The Philippine Nurses Association has also appealed to the government to allow 600 nurses to leave the country. “We must not hold hostage our healthcare workers’ desire for a better life for their families. Hindi natin dapat ipilit na isakripisyo nila ang pangarap para lang isugal ang buhay nila sa sistemang walang sapat na proteksyon para sa kanila (We should not insist that they sacrifice their own dreams for their families just to give up their lives on a system that do not provide sufficient protection for them),” Binay said.