Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan (PNA) (25 March) -- The three-year deployment ban for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Lebanon has not yet been lifted even as the Philippines is currently negotiating on a bilateral level with Lebanon's Ministry of Labor on issues related to labor standards.

Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito Roque disclosed this matter in a press briefing prior to the Cabinet meeting here today.

"Hindi natin papayagan na magbukas ang merkado ng employment'dun kung hindi tayo nagkakasundo sa labor standards" (we won't allow our Filipino workers' deployment there (Lebanon) unless we agree first on (labor standards), Roque stressed.

This means that "our government wants to make sure the protection and welfare of the OFWs will be assured before we lift the deployment ban," he added.

Roque said they are also awaiting the comments from the Lebanese Ministry of Labor regarding its position on the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the DOLE provided it earlier.

The Labor Secretary said he may send a technical team from DOLE and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to Lebanon within the next two weeks to sit down and discuss pertinent details about redeployment and how "we should finalize that MOU."

Included in the MOU, he said, are provisions on protection of workers' rights and minimum salary for Filipino household service workers (HSWs).

The Philippine government stopped sending Filipino workers to the Middle Eastern state in 2006 when violence between the Hezbollah and Israeli forces escalated.