Pinapayagan na ng pamahalaan ang mga Pinoy workers o Balik Manggagawa (BM) na bumalik sa Iraq.

Ito ay nang maglabas ang Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) ng resolusyon upang ianunsyo sa mga returning workers na maaari na silang bumalik sa nasabing bansa.

Nitong Huwebes, inihayag ni POEA administrator Bernard Olalia na ibinatay nila ang resolusyon sa pag-downgrade ng Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) ng kanilang Alert Level sa Iraq.

“This is a very good development, the lowering of the alert level in Iraq, the POEA issued a resolution to announce to fellow Filipinos that the returning workers can come back to Iraq. They are the ones with existing and live employment contracts and they are going to the Philippines for vacation or maybe they are here and will return to their employers there,” sabi ng opisyal.

Karamihan aniya ng OFWs na nagtatrabaho sa Iraq ay skilled at professional workers.

“They work in international organizations, in entities that have jobs offered there such as engineers, consultants and various other skilled and key professionals,” ayon kay Olalia.

Kinakailangan lamang aniyang magharap ang mga OFWs ng existing contracts at iba pang papeles na nagpapatunay ng kanilang pagtatrabaho sa lugar.

“They need to prove that they have an existing contract. They also need to present their respective employer’s certification or plan on how to help them in case there will be a problem. So, those are just some of the documents that need to be presented so that they can avail of their return there,” sabi pa nito.

Matatandaang isinailalim na lamang ng DFA sa Alert Level 3 (voluntary repatriation)ang Iraq mula sa dating Level 4 (mandatory repatriation) dahil na rin sa pagbuti ng security situation sa nabanggit na bansa.