Roque: It’s ‘perfectly legal’ to bar overseas deployment of Filipino health workers

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday said the government can prevent the overseas deployment of Filipino medical professionals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roque gave the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday asked the Department of Justice to study the legality of barring healthcare workers from going abroad to reduce the risk of infection.

“Perfectly legal,” Roque said in an interview on ANC television.

“In fact, that’s pursuant to the general welfare clause [of the Constitution]. It is an exercise of police power because the primary basis for the President’s concern is that these people are going to the most dangerous places as far as COVID-19 is concerned.”

The Palace official cited the top three countries with the most number of infections—the United States, Italy and Spain.

“If we are restricting travel to these places, why are we allowing them now to work in these places?” Roque asked. “And at the same time, of course, there’s the issue of, what about our own medical needs? We are also looking into that particular reasoning as a valid exercise of police power as well.”

Last month, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) imposed a temporary deployment ban on medical workers due to the COVID-19 emergency but the coronavirus task force revised the guidelines following opposition from migrant workers and some government officials.

Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals with signed overseas employment contracts as of March 8 this year have since been allowed to return to their jobs.

The concerned healthcare workers must execute and sign a declaration signifying their knowledge and understanding of the risks involved. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News