By Leslie Ann Aquino Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III believes that Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) should be exempted from the prevailing travel ban to China and its special administrative regions (SARs). Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III
(Keith Bacongco / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) "I agree with the position of DFA Sec. Locsin that, if possible, to lift the ban for OFWs because there is uncertainty on their part here," he said in an interview Wednesday. "But as Health Secretary (Francisco) Duque said, we can't gamble on the health of our workers. So he recommended that we should allow a period of two weeks and observe the situation, probably allow them to leave if the situation improves," added Bello. The government earlier imposed a temporary travel ban to and from China, Hong Kong, and Macau due to the threat of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) which led to a number of OFWs being stranded. The president of the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines (SHARP) asked Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Bernard Olalia to allow Hong Kong-bound workers with approved contracts, visas, and whose OECs (overseas employment certificate) were issued before the directive to return to their host countries of employment. Alfredo Palmiery, SHARP president, said the OFWs need to return to their work immediately because their families are heavily banking on their earnings or remittances for their financial needs, and their non-departure may lead to the cancellation of their visas and contracts by their employers. "If there will be no direct flights from Manila, we propose that they be allowed to depart via a 3rd country like Taiwan which has no flight suspensions yet to Hong Kong," Palmiery said. He warned that 10,000 household service workers who are on vacation and have travel documents from the POEA such as Balik-Mangagawa OECs will lose their current jobs with their Hong Kong employers if they fail to return on time as they were only given two weeks of vacation by their employers. He added that 15,000 Household Service Workers (HSWs) with new employment contracts in Hong Kong were also given only two to three weeks to fly to Hong Kong to start working for their new employers.