Philippines lifts ban on workers to Jordan

The Philippines yesterday announced it had lifted a five-year-old ban on its nationals working in Jordan that was imposed amid concerns over poor labour conditions.
The ban was lifted after the Philippine and Jordanian governments forged two agreements this year aimed at protecting the workers, including a minimum monthly salary of $400, the overseas workers administration said.
The ban on Jordan was imposed in 2007 due to "the growing number of distressed Filipino workers" who were seeking help from Philippine diplomatic offices there, the administration said.
"There were a whole variety of issues. Some of them (were) abused. Some were beaten. The point was, because some of these workers had run away, the deployment was stopped," administration vice chairman Hans Cacdac told AFP.
Wednesday's announcement came after the Philippines said last month it had won a long battle with Saudi Arabia and secured a minimum monthly wage of $400 for Filipino workers there.
About 10 percent of the Philippine population of almost 100 million have gone abroad to work in better-paying jobs than they can get in their largely impoverished homeland.