Dole hastens aid to OFWs

FILE PHOTO

THE DEPARTMENT of Labor and Employment (Dole) will deploy more labor attachés to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“I think we need more labor attachés and welfare officers there considering the number of overseas Filipino workers. In fact I am placing two for Riyadh and two for Jeddah,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in an interview.

He said a labor attaché could also be assigned to Al Khobar once a consulate is established there.

“With the number of migrant workers with problems, I think we need more labor attachés,” he said.

Bello earlier recalled Riyadh-based Labor Attaché Rustico dela Fuente and Jeddah-based Labor Attaché Jainal Rasul Jr. for failing to provide assistance to the 11,000 stranded OFWs.

Bello is set to fly to Saudi Arabia today to bring home the thousands of OFWs still stranded at nine Saudi jobsites.

“The immediate purpose of our visit is to bring home all of them,” Bello said. Tina G. Santos