President Duterte has allowed nurses and other health professionals with complete documentation to leave for their jobs overseas amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
(KARL NORMAN ALONZO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after overseas Filipino health workers appealed to the government to lift the deployment ban.
In his Monday presser, Roque announced that Filipino nurses and other health workers may now leave for their jobs abroad.
"The President listened to the appeal of the nurses. So for those who have their contracts and complete documents as of Aug. 31, 2020, you may now leave the country," he said.
"Some 1,500 nurses and other health professionals will benefit from this move of the President," he added.
According to Roque, President Duterte made the decision to accommodate overseas Filipino health workers who have already spent so much money just to process their papers so they can work abroad.
He said the government is yet to make a decision whether to fully lift the deployment ban.
"Wala pa pong desisyon sa total lifting, pinagbigyan lang po yung mga nakagastos na (There's no decision yet for the total lifting. We just indulged those who have already spent money for this)," he said.
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases had presented some options to Duterte on how to address the plight of overseas Filipino nurses amid the deployment ban.
The government initially halted the migration of health workers abroad to ensure their safety and address the shortage of manpower amid the pandemic.
It later allowed health workers with perfected and signed work contracts as of March 8 to be deployed for abroad.
Cabinet Secretary and IATF co-chairperson Karlo Nograles last week urged health workers and those who currently have no work to apply for a job in the government, saying the Department of Health (DoH) is currently hiring medical frontliners as the government builds more isolation quarantine facilities.
"I hope you will apply for these vacancies so you can help in the fight against COVID-19," he added.