Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Toots Ople is now in Saudi Arabia to meet with labor officials and discuss the plight of overseas Filipino workers there.
In a short advisory, Ople is pushing for a rights-based approach to the deployment, hiring, and treatment of Filipino migrant workers in Saudi Arabia at the start of bilateral discussions with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development last Saturday.
Details of whether the prevailing deployment ban for newly hired domestic workers are still unknown.
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No word yet if Saudi Arabia made another commitment to pay the unpaid salaries of thousands of Filipino workers from Saudi.
Ople previously said that both the Philippine and Saudi government should iron out issues first before lifting the policy aiming to protect newly hired overseas Filipino workers.
“We value our long-standing friendship with Saudi Arabia, we will have to initiate bilateral talks with them regarding this we cannot the lift the ban without certain assurances,” Ople said.
Ople said it’s also important to understand the effect of the ban to both sides and come up with realistic solutions.
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“We will explore diplomatic solutions,” Ople added.
Former Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello ordered a ban on the deployment of newly hired household service workers in November 2021 to pave the way for a technical working group to craft new rules for their deployment.
Bello also slammed the failure of the Saudi government to pay the wages and benefits of some 10,000 OFWs in Saudi Arabia amounting to over P4 billion. The ban was also prompted by reports of abusive employers to Filipino domestic helpers.
