1,500 of over 10,000 displaced Saudi OFWs to get compensation by March

MANILA, Philippines — Around 1,500 out of over 10,000 displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are expected to receive compensation by March from construction companies in Saudi Arabia that went bankrupt.

The officer-in-charge of the Department of Migrant Workers, Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac, made the announcement in a statement released on Friday.

Last Tuesday, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos. Jr. also announced that payments for some 1,104 claimants started in late January.

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“This is just the start of what we see as a deliberate process of distribution of claimants’ checks and encashment resulting into the full payout of each of our displaced OFW’s unpaid claims and other benefits,” Cacdac said.

Of the 1,104 claimants who received checks from Saudi-based Alinma Bank, some 843 have been able to encash their compensation, according to Marcos.

Cacdac said, however, that the remaining 300 or so checks for the 1,104 claimants would be distributed in the coming weeks.

The DMW is also expecting another tranche of 400 checks to be distributed next month.

This other tranche will bring the number of beneficiaries to about 1,500.

Saudi Arabia has a total of 10,554 OFWs to compensate after several construction firms shut down in 2015 and 2016.