A Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman said Thursday that President Arroyo has approved recommendations to lift the ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Lebanon and Jordan.

DFA spokesman Ed Malaya, however, clarified that the implementation of the lifting of the ban to Lebanon and Jordan has been left by President Arroyo to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced at a press conference on Wednesday that Mrs. Arroyo approved the lifting of the deployment bans due to the improved security conditions in the two countries.

Ermita said the implementation of the lifting of the bans to the two countries would have to be assessed by the DOLE first. He said the "timing"
of the lifting of the ban to Lebanon and Jordan "is very important."

DOLE Secretary Marianito Roque said Filipinos would not be allowed to work in Lebanon unless the country complies with labor requirements of the Philippine government.

"Our government wants to make sure the protection and welfare of the OFWs will be assured before we lift the deployment ban,” Roque said.

Recommendations to lift the ban in Lebanon were followed by the visit of Ambassador Roy Cimatu, presidential envoy to the Middle East. Cimatu had reported that it was already safe for the government to resume deployment of OFWs to the country.

Ermita, meanwhile, announced that the ban on the deployment of OFWs to Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria "remains in force."

The government declared the deployment ban to Lebanon in 2006 when fighting between Israel and Hezbolla escalated. At the time of the conflict, the government successfully repatriated at least 6,000 documented and undocumented OFWs.