The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has threatened to sanction Philippine recruitment agencies (PRAs) that fail to report overseas Filipino workers (OFW) infected with Covid-19.
In its Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 4-2020, POEA gave three days upon getting the information to report to concerned government posts abroad cases of symptomatic or infected OFWs in Hong Kong and Macau.
“PRAs in violation of this Memorandum shall be held liable for violation or reportorial requirements under the POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Landbased Overseas Filipino Workers of 2016 as well as appropriate corresponding disciplinary action,” POEA administrator Bernard P. Olalia said in the new issuance.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there are currently 745 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong and 66 in Macau on March 4, 2020.
These cases prompted POEA to require PRAs to strictly monitor the condition/s of their deployed OFWs and should establish accessible lines of communication for reports on emergency cases.
“As such monitoring system should be generated by each deploying PRA to take into consideration the seriousness of the disease and the OFW’s immediate need for medical assistance,” Olalia said.
In a text message, Olalia told BusinessMirror PRAs are currently complying with the reportorial requirement.
“Agencies are now submitting their monitoring reports,” Olalia said.
As of Thursday, they have yet to sanction any PRA for non-compliance to MC 4-2020.