Manila, June 20 -- Senator-elect Erwin Tulfo on Friday urged concerned government agencies to temporarily suspend the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to areas near Israel and Iran amid their armed conflict.

At a news forum, Tulfo called on the Department of Migrant Workers, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Bureau of Immigration to hold for the meantime the sending of OFWs to the "surrounding areas of Iran and Israel."

"Not all of the Middle East, but the surrounding areas of Iran and Israel like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, and there are also Jordan and Egypt," he said during the monthly Balitaan sa Harbor View organized by the Manila City Hall Reporters' Association.

"Now, if we keep sending (OFWs) and the...