PRESIDENT’S special envoy to the Gulf Cooperation Council, Dr. Amable Aguiluz V, received information from His Excellency Munther Mahfoods Salim Almantheri, the Omani Ambassador to the Philippines, that the Sultanate of Oman’s Civil Aviation Authority issued Circular No. 19/2021 on Aug. 23, 2021, lifting travel restrictions imposed on countries such as the Philippines.
This directive will take effect on Sept. 1 at 12:00 p.m. (Oman local time).
Last May 4, Oman imposed a ban on the entry of travelers from the Philippines or travelers transiting through the Philippines 14 days prior to the application for entry into Oman. Filipino workers have been prohibited from entering Oman since May of this year.
Consequently, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration issued a resolution on June 18, imposing a temporary ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Oman.
This prompted Envoy Aguiluz to host a zoom meeting on June 21 between Sec. Silvestre Bello III and Oman Ambassador Almantheri to harmonize the two nations’ policies so that Filipino workers might be deployed to Oman again.
The two parties agreed that upon issuance of a lifting order by Oman authorities, the Department of Labor and Employment should likewise lift the deployment ban on Filipino workers to Oman.
The lifting of the ban has was accelerated due to Aguiluz’s close personal relationship with Oman’s Foreign Minister, His Excellency Sayyid Badr Albusaidi./PN
