More than a thousand Filipino workers get ready to head to Hong Kong as Manila lifts labour export ban
The Philippine government stopped issuing the necessary certificates for outbound workers for three weeks, due to concerns over illegal recruitment and ‘unscrupulous individuals preying on Filipinos’
Jalilo Dela Torre, labour attaché at the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong, said 1,200 Hong Kong families had been affected by the ban.
On Monday, Manila resumed processing the backlog of the country’s 75,000 workers applying to work overseas, including domestic helpers, according to Dela Torre.
The halt on the export of labour from the archipelago nation to the rest of the world came into force on November 11 when its government suspended the issuance of overseas employment certificates, a necessary document for all outbound workers.
The ban came after it identified “persistent reports of illegal recruitment” and “pernicious activities of certain unscrupulous individuals preying on Filipinos” and was lifted on December 1 as planned.
Hong Kong Employment Agencies Association chairman Cheung Kit-man expected that it would take seven to 10 days for the Philippine government to issue the first new overseas employment certificates, which normally takes less than one week to approve. Upon this approval, domestic workers will be able to book their flights to the city.
