THE TRAVEL BAN ISSUE

This is to add insult to the Nigerian Government and additional hardship to OFWs here in Nigeria as inflicted by the adviser on overseas workers, our very own Kabayan Noli de Castro. Ano ang sekreto at recommended nya ang lifting of travel ban sa Iraq? Your guess is as good as mine. And to tell you frankly, Pusong Pinoy and the 'lowly workers' here in Nigeria can not afford this.

MABUHAY ANG MANGGAGAWANG PILIPINO!



Palace to consider lifting Iraq deployment ban
abs-cbnNEWS. com 01/25/2009 11:52 PM
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Malacañang on Sunday said President Arroyo will seriously consider a proposal to lift the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Iraq.
Secretary Cerge Remonde, incoming press secretary, said the proposal came from Vice President Noli De Castro.
Vice President Noli de Castro said Saturday that he has asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to study the lifting of the ban on deployment of workers to Iraq, which may open millions of opportunities for overseas Filipino workers.
De Castro, the concurrent presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers, said Iraqi government representatives told him in recent meeting that there are about 10 million job opportunities for overseas workers in their country.
He said he had asked a representative of the DFA, who was present in the meeting, to study the possibility of lifting the work ban in Iraq.
“I will also meet with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Undersecretary Esteban Conejos to determine if we can already lift our ban in Iraq,” de Castro said in his dzMM radio program “Para Sa ‘Yo Bayan” Saturday during a phone interview with Labor Secretary Marianito Roque.
Roque, for his part, told De Castro that the Department of Labor and Employment had also requested the DFA to assess the security situation in Iraq.
He said his counterpart in Iraq had also advised him that 30,000 construction jobs will open in the country.
He said that based on initial news he is hearing from Iraq, the security situation there has already improved.
Malacañang meanwhile also said the government is stepping up the search for new job opportunities here and abroad for OFWs to mitigate the impact of the global economic meltdown on the country’s workforce.
Remonde, in a report on Malacañang’s web portal, reportedly said that tapping job markets abroad is a priority item of the agenda of President Arroyo when she attends the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland late this month.
as of 01/27/2009 11:49 AM