PH resumes deployment of OFWs to Saudi Arabia

By: Dona Z. Pazzibugan - 2 years ago

Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople. Senate PRIB

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) will resume on Nov. 7 the processing of new employment contracts for Saudi Arabia-bound overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) after the suspension of deployment due to the pandemic and welfare concerns.

Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople said the OFWs to be deployed to Saudi Arabia, especially domestic workers, would benefit from the negotiated new employment contract “that ensures greater workers’ protection.”

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a total of 189,826 new hired OFWs were deployed to Saudi Arabia. They consisted of 37,278 domestic workers and cleaners and 152,548 construction workers and other skilled workers.

“We will know by Monday and the week and months ahead, the number of proposed employment contracts to be submitted by foreign employers and Saudi recruitment agencies for verification by our posts,” Ople said.

Migrant Workers Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne Caunan said the new employment contracts include insurance coverage for domestic workers and skilled workers covering unpaid salaries, airfare and refund of recruitment costs in case of unfinished contracts and other contingencies.

Insurance coverage

The Saudi government will shoulder the insurance cost for skilled workers while Saudi employers are mandated to pay for the insurance coverage of Filipino domestic workers.

Ople said a delegation from the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development will arrive next week to discuss among others, a review of OFW salaries and automation of recruitment processes.

The Saudi officials will also discuss with the DMW the status of cases involving the unpaid salaries of thousands of Filipino construction workers dating back to 2016.

Former Labor Secretary and now Manila Economic and Cultural Office chair in Taiwan Silvestre Bello III ordered a ban on the deployment of newly hired domestic workers to Saudi Arabia in November 2021, after the Saudi government continued to fail to settle the unpaid wages of around 10,000 OFWs.