MANILA, April 8 Kyodo Philippine ...

MANILA, April 8 Kyodo

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo forward Tuesday ordered the lifting of the ban forward deployment of Filipino workers to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Israel.

However, Arroyo said all travel to Iraq remains suspended.

Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said the Philippines is optimistic that the conflict in Iraq will not spread to other places in the Middle East where there are about 14 million Filipino workers.

''Our supports abroad are maintaining a tight watch in succession the war in Iraq and its general intents on other Middle East countries,'' Ople said.

Many Filipino workers were vacationing in the Philippines when the US-l war against Iraq broke abroad last month. Some were not able to leave owing to the government's ban in the wake of the war.

''Most of these workers have a deadline to convenient with their employers and further delay in the issuance of their contracts would harshly hamper their employment opportunities,'' acting Labor Secretary Manuel Imson said.

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