For the past three years, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are not allowed to enter Lebanon for employment purposes because of an existing deployment ban in the said country. The atrocities in Lebanon caused by war conflicts risk the safety of OFWs prompting the Philippine government to implement a ban.

However, OFWs may soon be allowed to enter in this Middle East state as foreign workers again as the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) recently announced that the armed conflict in Lebanon has already ended, making it a safe place for OFWs to be employed. The DFA therefore agrees to the lifting of the deployment ban.

According to Roy Cimatu, Presidential envoy to the Middle East, peace and stability had retuned to Lebanon, so the deployment ban can now be lifted. Cimatu was sent to Lebanon last month to evaluate the security condition in the country.

The decision of the DFA to lift the deployment ban in Lebanon was supported by Vice President Noli de Castro, citing that Lebanon can be another labor market for retrenched OFWs. De Castro said, “There is no more reason to maintain the deployment ban to Lebanon. Many of our countrymen badly need jobs today and Lebanon offers plenty of employment opportunities."

However, a bilateral agreement with Lebanon that seeks to secure the welfare OFWs

is first required before the deployment ban is officially lifted. De Castro asked the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and DFA to negotiate with Lebanon for the said agreement.

According to the DOLE, there is no need to hurry the lifting of the ban and allow redeployment of household service workers (HSWs). The assurance that the interest of OFWs in Lebanon will be protected is their first priority. The DOLE had already sent a proposed memorandum of understanding regarding the hiring of HSWs to labor authorities in Lebanon. One of the provisions included in the proposed MOU is the USD 400 as minimum salary of HSWs.

The proposed lifting of the ban was positively met by Josef Assad, Lebanon's honorary consul-general to the Philippines. He said, “This is a positive step in the normalization and improvement of relations between Lebanon and the Philippines."

Assad said, “This will perk up relations between the two countries as this will remove the barrier which has prevented thousands of Filipinos from working in Lebanon which is now experiencing an economic boom and is need of thousands of construction workers to complete the infrastructure billion-dollar projects like highways and bridges."