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MANILA, Philippines — Around 100,000 Filipinos are awaiting the resumption of deployment of household service workers (HSWs) to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which will take effect by the end of March, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Wednesday.
“Marami ‘yan. Isang daang libo,” Bello said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel when asked about the number of Filipinos waiting for the resumption of the deployment and are applying to become HSWs in the UAE.
Bello said many Filipinos want to work in the UAE because of higher salaries and fair treatment to household workers.
“Ganun karami, now that they are offering the deployment to the United Arab Emirates. Kasi alam niyo maganda ang pay scale doon, maganda ang treatment sa household service workers, kaya nga despite the fact na wala tayong deployment doon, marami tayong mga kababayan na pumupunta doon as tourists. And from tourist visa, nagkakaroon ng change to working visa,” he added.
The Philippines and the UAE reached a “historic” agreement during a joint committee meeting in Manila on Tuesday on the resumption of deployment of HSWs to the Emirates.
The deployment of HSWs to the UAE has been suspended since 2014.
Philippine delegation head Undersecretary Claro Arellano earlier said the new deployment will now be covered by a unified employment contract that provides stringent measures to protect Filipino HSWs.
DOLE earlier explained that under the unified contract, both the employer and foreign recruitment agencies and Philippine recruitment agencies are bound by joint and solidary liability should anything happen to the Filipino workers.
Bello added that the UAE will also not convert tourist visas of Filipinos into working visas without the approval of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
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