MANILA: As oil prices continue to decline in the global market, the recruitment industry has urged the Philippine government to come up with a new program for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who may be face problem as oil-rich countries in the Middle East start tight fisting.
LBS Recruitment Solutions Corp. President Loreto “Lito” Soriano disclosed they are projecting fewer OFWs will be deployed in Middle East if the oil prices slump persists up to June, Manila Times reported.
He reportedly said the declining revenues from oil has prompted some Arab countries to postpone some infrastructure projects and forced some oil companies to cut cost.
Citing the case of their deployment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the recruitment leader reportedly noted they already observed a decline in the number of Saudi employers, who arrived in the country to interview their applicants.
He, however, quickly added deployment in KSA remains stable for now, the report said.
KSA is currently the top destination country of OFWs bound to the Middle East, it added.
Among the OFWs who will be affected by the economic crises in the region are those working in the construction and oil industry, said the news portal.
Soriano was quoted as saying that the government should now start coming up with a new contingency plan if the oil problem takes a turn for the worse.
Meanwhile, Blas F. Ople Policy Center president Susan Ople supported the proposal, especially since most of the existing alternative employment and livelihood provided by the government through its reintegration program does not meet the qualifications of the workers, who might be displaced.
Based from data of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), there are around 2 million OFWs in the KSA alone and million others in other Middle East nations, Manila Times reported.
On the other hand, Migrante Middle East regional coordinator John Monterona urged the government on Sunday to verify a report of a OFWs center in the Najran, a city in the southern region of KSA, was bombed by Yemeni rebels last week.
