Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda on Tuesday appealed to incoming Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma and Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople to lift deployment bans for health care workers and other in-demand OFW jobs “to help mitigate the impacts of currency depreciation and to create jobs for Filipinos.”
“When the peso is cheap, the easiest logical choice is to earn more foreign currency. There is no easier way to do that, in our case, than to allow OFWs to work wherever they wish. Labor mobility is a human right, after all. And in this case, it’s good economics, too,” Salceda, chair of the House committee on ways and means, said.
Salceda stressed the deployment ceiling of 6,500 for Filipino healthcare workers. Last November 2021, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has temporarily suspended the processing and deployment of healthcare workers (HCWs), particularly nurses, as the annual deployment cap of 6,500 has been reached.
“When you think about it, the policy is hideous. Imagine forcing health care workers to stay at home and just suck it up if they have complaints about low pay here. If the point is to keep them during a health emergency, the best way is to pay them right. Besides, if you don’t pay them enough, they won’t work for our hospitals. They’ll just stay at home. So, as a policy, it’s set for failure.”
This March, the POEA also announced that they are mulling a 7,500 deployment cap this year.
“I appeal to Secretary Laguesma, who has been my friend since the Estrada administration, and to Secretary Ople. Just lift the deployment bans. It’s contrary to sound social policy. It’s also bad economic policy.”