Sinabi ni Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Bernard Olalia na ang deployment ng overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sa Israel ay alinsunod sa Bilateral Labor Agreement (BLA) na pinirmahan nina Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III at Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Machluf taong 2018.
“We took the initiative to address the concern and request of Israel for caregivers,” pahayag ni Olalia at aniya, “Since we cannot disregard the fact that there are illegal recruiters here and there, Secretary Bello continues to remind OFWs to avoid dealing with bogus recruiters and under-the-table transactions that require placement fees of about P500,000.”
Nitong Martes, July 27, 2021 nasa 48 caregivers ang nakalista sa unang batch na umalis patungong Israel.
Sinalubong ang mga health worker sa Ben Gurion International Airport sa Tel Aviv ng ilang opisyal mula sa Philippine Embassy at Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO).
Sinabi ng POEA chief na ang naturang grupo ay bahagi ng unang batch ng 377 OFWs na dapat ide-deploy noong nakaraang taon ngunit nagkaroon ng pagkaantala sa pagproseso ng mga dokumento at flight dahil sa lockdown bunsod ng COVID-19.
November 2020 nang mag-post ang POEA Government Placement Branch ng 500 vacant positions para sa home-based care-givers sa website ng POEA. Umabot sa 1,375 ang nag-apply sa e-registration database.
“We are now processing the documents of the qualified applicants for the 2nd round of recruitment, and this time, we are looking at more than 1,000 OFWs who will undergo the usual process of selection, hiring and matching with their respective employers in Israel,” saad ni Olalia.
Bago ang kanilang deployment, hindi kailangang bakunado ang OFW ngunit pagdating sa Israel, sasailalim sa COVID-19 test at mandatory institutional quarantine protocols.
Maliban sa caregivers, household service workers, at nurses, mataas din ang demand ng Israeli government sa iba pang trabaho sa sektor ng teknolohiya, serbisyo, hospitality and manufacturing.
“To date, we have not reached the 6,500 ceiling on the annual overseas deployment of health care workers (HCWs). However, more countries are opening their doors for Filipino HCWs, so we are meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to recommend the increase of deployment cap, as urged by medical groups,” ayon sa POEA chief.
Nagpatupad ang gobyerno ng temporary deployment cap upang masigurong hindi magkukulang ng medical workers sa Pilipinas.