Deployment ban lifted
THE resumption of the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Saudi Arabia has thrust out front anew the need to intensify the campaign against illegal recruiters.
Let’s not forget that Saudi is the favorite destination of our workers, many of them female domestic helpers and skilled workers, such as carpenters, in the oil-rich Middle East.
The processing of new employment contracts for Saudi Arabia-bound OFWs resumed last Monday, November 7, according to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
It will be recalled that then Labor Secretary Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III banned the deployment of newly-hired domestic helpers to the ME kingdom in November 2021.
This after the Saudi Arabia government continued to fail to settle the unpaid wages and other benefits of some 10,000 OFWs.
A delegation from the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development will arrive next week to discuss with DMW officials a host of vital issues and concerns.
The two sides will review OFW salaries in Saudi Arabia, according to DMW Secretary Susan Ople, a daughter of the late Labor and Employment Secretary Blas F. Ople.
Likewise, the Saudi and DMW officials will discuss the status of cases involving the unpaid salaries of thousands of Filipino construction workers dating back to 2016.
Nobody can blame our countrymen, including professionals, for preferring to work overseas because of the low pay of workers in the government and private sector.
Of course, we commend the government, through concerned offices and agencies, for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of our workers in foreign lands.
