Question & AnswerQ&A (POEA MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 08)
The prescriptive period for the deployment of landbased workers is ONE HUNDRED TWENTY (120) calendar days from the signing of the employment contract.
The prescriptive period for the deployment of seafarers is SIXTY (60) calendar days from the date of processing by the Administration of the employment contracts.
Failure of the agency to deploy a worker within the prescribed period may cause suspension or cancellation of the agency's license or a fine.
The agency shall return all documents at no cost to the worker.
The Employment Contract Processing Branch (ECPB) and all Units issuing Overseas Employment Certificates (OECs) are responsible for monitoring.
The monitoring aims to ease the inventory of used OECs and to check indiscriminate processing of workers without sure deployment, minimizing undeployed processed workers.
Agencies are required to surrender expired OECs of undeployed processed workers to the ECPB or concerned Units within FIFTEEN (15) days from the date of expiry, along with an explanation for failure to deploy within the prescribed period.
Strict compliance with the surrender of expired OECs is required effective 1 February 1996.
They are found under Book III, Rule II, Section 4 of the Rules and Regulations Governing Overseas Employment as amended.
An OEC is a document issued by the POEA to Filipino workers who are legally deployed overseas, certifying that they have a valid employment contract and are compliant with relevant rules.