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Philippine envoy to Jordan Julius D. Torres has conveyed his
appreciation to the Labor Ministry for facilitating the waiver of
the overstay fines of 140 overseas Filipino workers in Jordan in a
formal call.
The OFWs could now be repatriated to the
Philippines after the issuance of the waiver by Jordan’s Ministry
of Interior and after the DFA granted authority to purchase one-way
plane tickets for the workers.
The list includes 11 underage workers and eight
Filipino children born in Jordan, together with their respective
mothers.
Jordan Immigration imposes a fine of Jordanian
dinars 1.50 ($2.50) per day for aliens whose residency permits have
expired. The overstay fines of the OFWs range from three
months to three years, with one OFW accumulating fines of up
to eight years.
Jordanian Minister of Labor Bassem Al Salem
expressed hope that the Philippines would soon lift the temporary
suspension of deployment of Filipino domestic workers to Jordan.
Al Salem said that an interim joint committee
formed in December 2007, consisting of representatives from the
Labor Ministry, the Embassy, and the recruitment agents’
association, have not only resolved a number of individual cases,
but also identified certain procedural and practical obstacles in
the relevant recruitment processes in the Philippines and Jordan.
Ambassador Torres and Minister Al Salem agreed
that certain procedures must be changed, and the 1988 bilateral
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Labor Matters should be updated
to reflect current conditions.
A Jordanian delegation may visit Manila soon to
study the deployment process in the Philippines and prepare for the
signing of a new labor memorandum.
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