QUEZON CITY: Hundreds of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who have not received their salaries for months, still remain stranded in Saudi Arabia, the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo has said.
Taguiwalo is working on the recommendations made by the DSWD team that participated in the recent Humanitarian Mission of the Rodrigo R. Duterte government to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, reported Philippine Information Agency (PIA).
The objective of the mission is to bring home stranded overseas Filipino workers affected by the crisis in the Gulf country, the report said.
“We have to continue our efforts to reach them and give them the assistance they need until they can return safely to the Philippines,” she was quoted as saying.
“There is also an urgent need to ensure that the more vulnerable members of stranded OFW communities – women, children, and sickly individuals – are given immediate assistance. We at the DSWD want to ensure that they are among the priorities of all our initiatives concerning OFW repatriation,” Taguiwalo reportedly said.
On August 8, 2016 in Jeddah, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman issued a series of directives foremost to the Ministry of Labor and Social Development and the Ministry of Finance to take necessary measures to oblige contracting companies to pay the salaries of their employees in accordance with the Wage Protection Program of the Saudi government that ensures worker’s salaries are fully paid.
The government may not release what it owes to these companies unless the Ministry of Labor certifies the timely payment of their employees. Immediately after this, the Duterte administration ordered the creation of a team to lead a humanitarian mission to the KSA. It was organized by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the DSWD, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA), Department of Health (DOH), and the Technological ans Skills Development Administration (TESDA) to participate in this noble endeavor.
The mission is the Duterte government’s response to the problems affecting OFWs such as expired Iqama, non-issuance of exit visa, no insurance coverage and are delayed for repatriation.
On part of the DSWD, the agency provided psychosocial intervention to convince the OFWs to return home. The DSWD also provided food and hygiene packs and regional referrals they needed so they prepare themselves for their return to the Philippines.
“We are very happy for the success of the humanitarian mission and we laud the efforts of the members of the DSWD team who worked very hard to reach out to our stranded kababayans in the KSA. However, based on the assessment of the team members themselves, much remains to be done because so many OFWs remain in dire straits in different part of Saudi Arabia,” Taguiwalo was quoted as saying by PIA.
