ILOILO City – There is no ban in the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Hong Kong despite the ongoing protest there, Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III said here on Tuesday.
Although Bello said that the protest is “getting more serious every day”, he still branded the information that the department has imposed a deployment ban for those wanting to work in Hong Kong as “fake news”.
“Mas fake news yung lumalabas sa social media na meron kaming order to repatriate ang mga workers,” he said in an interview Tuesday on the sidelines of the launching of the “Gugma Day”, a program initiated by the office of Iloilo City lone district representative Julienne Baronda.
“Wala, there is no order like that,” he added.
Bello said that “everything is safe there” and no OFW was reported to have been injured or imprisoned except for one instance when a worker donned a black shirt. “Other than that, there was no incident that put our worker in jeopardy,” he said.
However, he cited that the Department of Foreign Affairs has issued an advisory that if Filipinos will just go there for shopping, then better to have it postponed.
“They will shop siguro (perhaps) later on under better condition,” he said.
Bello estimated that around 300,000 OFWs are currently working in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, thousands of city residents benefited from the launching of the “Gugma Day” that was highlighted by the distribution of various livelihood assistance, health services and medical and dental missions.
The Government Internship Program (GIP) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) allotted P5 million for Baronda’s “Balik Sigla” program that aims to rehabilitate stroke survivors and make them productive again.
Fourteen licensed physical therapists were hired under the GIP who will be deployed to barangays to provide professional rehabilitative therapy.
Moreover, 11 of the 50 fiberglass motorized bancas that were committed by the DOLE were also turned over to their beneficiaries along with the provision of some P1 million worth of livelihood assistance to fisherfolks association under the Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers.
Bello also led the ceremonial donning of vests for 195 barangay service point officers, 168 barangay health workers, 97 barangay nutrition scholars and 174 supplemental feeding program workers.
The 291 traffic aides of the Public Safety and Transportation Management Office were also provided with raincoats.
Some 200 beneficiaries also received aid under the assistance to individuals in crisis situation program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The delivery of social services is a step towards the realization of Baronda’s campaign platform dubbed as HOPE (health, obra, peace and order and education).
Baronda, in her message, also announced that in partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, training will be held starting next week for those interested to work in Israel, aside from the free German language training course for nurses who wanted to be deployed in Germany.
“This is only the beginning of our continuous love for all of you. This is only the beginning of helping our mayor in bringing Iloilo City to the next level,” she said.(PNA)
