Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said the deployment ban to Saudi Arabia will only be lifted if the latter will pay at least half of the claims of thousand Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
Bello said that around 11,000 OFWs remained unpaid even if the two governments reached an agreement late last year that Saudi would pay around P5.1 billion.
He said that he made the offer to Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the Philippines Hisham Sultan Al Zafir Al Qahtani during their meeting.
“I told him, ‘Your excellency, even if you only settle for the moment 50 percent of the claims of our OFWs, I will have all the reason to lift the suspension,’” Bello said in a virtual briefing.
The Department of Labor and Employment suspended the deployment of OFWs for Saudi construction and mega recruitment companies.
“They promised they would help in the satisfaction of the claims of our overseas workers five years ago, but so far nothing has happened,” Bello added.
“I am expecting any time right now [an] invitation [for a meeting] from their Ministry of Labor. Once it arrives, I will fly again to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the labor chief said.
