(AFP) - Philippine labour officials said Sunday they were maintaining bans on sending Filipino workers to Lebanon and Jordan despite calls for them to be lifted.

The ban on Lebanon was kept due to continuing concerns over peace and order in that country while that on Jordan was kept in force after employers refused to comply with new conditions for hiring Filipinos.

Overseas employment administrator Jennifer Manalili said the department of foreign affairs had recommended the bans be maintained due to the "still volatile situation" in both countries.

"We cannot (lift the ban) due to the current peace and order condition," in Lebanon, she added.

However Filipino workers who already had employment contracts would be allowed to return home on holiday and then go back to work in those countries, said Labor Secretary Marianito Roque.

The Philippines imposed a ban on deployment of workers to both countries this year due to fighting in Lebanon and increased reports of Filipino domestic workers being abused in Jordan.

In July, the Philippines said it would lift the ban on Jordan provided employers agree to pay a minimum salary of 400 dollars.

However a senior official, who asked not to be named, said Jordanian employers had widely refused to pay the minimum salary required by the Philippines.

Labour office records show that in January alone, as many as 150 Filipino workers were staying at a Philippine centre in Amman, Jordan complaining of abuse and maltreatment. Most of them were maids.

In January, Jordanian government figures showed there were as many as 15,000 Filipinos working in the country. Private agencies in the Philippines said as many 25,000 Filipinos worked in Lebanon last year.

Some eight million Filipinos, or nearly 10 percent of the country's population, work abroad. Remittances they send home are a major pillar of the domestic economy.