President Bongbong Marcos said that the previous deployment issue with Saudi Arabia has now been resolved in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA).
“The deployment issue in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now been resolved. And as of today, 70,000 of our OFWs have already been deployed to Saudi Arabia for employment,” Marcos said.
The president also mentioned the unpaid claims of some 14,000 former OFWs in Saudi Arabia.
“The Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia himself personally committed to me that the unpaid claims of Filipino workers would now be paid,” the president said.
Marcos said that the government is exerting efforts to ensure that foreign employment will be the last resort for Filipinos.
“It is our wish that one-day foreign employment will be driven by choice, not by necessity. It remains a noble calling that our OFWs have answered, requiring great sacrifice from them, their families, and their communities,” he said.
“We are engaging with our partners in the international community to ensure a safe working environment for our countrymen. And as we do so, we are also putting in place responsive mechanisms for the social welfare, repatriation, and reintegration of our returning OFWs into the Philippine economy,” he added.
