MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) issued Friday a governing board (GB) resolution that would allow vacationing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to return to Yemen.

In a two-page resolution, POEA administrator Hans Cacdac said the POEA-GB made the decision after the Department of Foreign Affairs lowered the alert level in Yemen to level 2 last Monday.

Cacdac said that the GB takes effect Saturday.

“The POEA governing board, in a meeting duly convened, resolves as it hereby resolved, to allow, the redeployment of returning workers to the country, subject to proof of existing employment as determined by POEA,” Cacdac said.

“The lowering of the Alert Level will not cover the deployment to Yemen of newly-hired OFWs,” he added.

The government implemented a deployment ban in Yemen last year due to its worsening political instability.

Meanwhile, in a separate GB resolution, the POEA GB also reimposed the total deployment ban in Iraq amid its escalating terrorist attacks.

“The POEA governing board, in a meeting, duly convened, resolves, as it is hereby resolved, to impose a total deployment ban in Iraq, except in the Iraqui Kurdistan Region, until such time that it has been determined that the security condition has normalized, after due consultation with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),” Cacdac said.