The government can stop the deployment of Filipino medical professionals abroad as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Wednesday.
He made the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte asked the Justice department to study the legality of barring health care workers from going abroad so they could prevent being infected, and at the same time help fight the pandemic here.
“Perfectly legal,” Roque told 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.”
Roque made his statement even as the Justice department said it was studying the plan to stop the migration of health workers to the countries with a high incidence of COVID-10 infections.
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said they would consider the health workers' right to earn a living outside the country as well as the need for them to stay here to help fight the pandemic.
"We are considering the medical professionals’ right to travel and earn a living and our hospitals’ great need for their services," Perete told reporters.
Roque on Wednesday cited the United States, Italy and Spain as the countries with the most number of COVID-19 infections.
“If we are restricting travel to these places, why are we allowing them [Filipino health workers] now to work in these places?” Roque said.
“At the same time, of course, there’s the issue of our own medical needs.”
Last month, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration imposed a temporary deployment ban on Filipino medical workers due to the pandemic, but the coronavirus task force stopped the ban following the opposition from migrant workers and some government officials.
The doctors, nurses, and other health-care professionals with employment contracts abroad as of March 8 this year had since been allowed to return to their jobs.