OFWs with expired OECs can leave for abroad

MANILA, Philippines — Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) can still leave the country for employment even with expired overseas employment certificates (OECs), according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

POEA has announced the extension of the original validity of OECs which expired during the community quarantine period in the country.

“Departing OFWs with expired OECs during the period of enhanced, modified and general community quarantine may proceed to the POEA issuing office, or at the Labor Assistance Center (LAC) in the international airport for evaluation, revalidation of stamping,” POEA said in an advisory yesterday.

The LAC shall then evaluate the documents and validate these with available records if the worker’s employment documents have been processed and approved by POEA. After revalidation, POEA said the OECs shall be stamped as “cleared.”

Meanwhile, the recruitment industry is looking forward to the streamlining of deployment procedures after the Anti-Red Tape Authority met with POEA.

POEA has recorded a significant drop in the deployment of OFWs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overseas deployment went down by 47 percent to 460,264 in the first five months of 2020, from 870,015 during the same period last year.

From January to May this year, deployment of newly hired OFWs declined by 59 percent to 70,990, from 174,348 covering the same period last year.

Deployment of rehired OFWs in the past five months also dropped by 50 percent to 308,587 from 618,710 in 2019.