Most OFWs stranded in Saudi wish to stay, gov’t execs find

GOVERNMENT officials who rushed to Saudi Arabia to help repatriate stranded Filipino workers laid off their jobs found that the majority of them don’t want to come home.

“Marami talaga ayaw umuwi, kahit anong pilit namin (Many really do not want to come home, no matter how hard we try to convince them),” said a diplomat who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The diplomat is part of the government’s Rapid Response Team (RRT) dispatched by Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. on Aug. 10 to help bring some 11,000 Filipinos home.

The official told the Inquirer the RRT had talked to 323 workers in Al Khobar who had not been paid for months due to corporate shutdowns because of the declining price of oil.

“We were sent here to assist them and to convince them to return home,” the diplomat told the Inquirer. “But many are reluctant to come home. They just want to send money to their families,” he said.

Last week, only 13 OFWs took advantage of the repatriation.

Earlier reports said many insisted on staying put until they collected their back wages. Others hoped to transfer to other jobs in the kingdom.

The diplomat said one of the stranded OFWs told him he had incurred debts in order to send money to his family in Batangas City. He didn’t want to come home empty-handed.