A group of distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are among the 1,470 Filipinos who were removed from their jobs following a company lockout in Saudi Arabia have arrived in the country on Sunday, November 18.
Officials from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) welcomed the 56 OFWs on board PAL flight PR 683 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), reported GMA News.
The repatriated OFWs will receive financial assistance from the government to help them restart in the Philippines especially ahead the Christmas season.
Earlier, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said that the 1,470 OFWs were displaced from their jobs under Azmeel Contracting Corporation. The assets of the company were reportedly frozen by the Saudi government.
Aside from being removed from their jobs, the company also did not pay the salary of the OFWs for four months.
A group of labor officials, including Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, flew to Saudi to discuss with labor officials there the deployment of the OFWs and the payment of their unsettled salaries.
