Binay welcomes Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift ban on Filipino domestic workers

After banning Filipino household service workers middle of this year due to hiring conditions imposed by outher Asian countries, Saudi Arabia has reached an agreement recently with the Philippines to lift the ban on hiring Filipino domestic workers. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Vice President Jejomary Binay on Thursday welcomed the decision of Saudi Arabia to lift its ban on the deployment of Filipino household service workers (HRWs), saying the move affirmed the strong relationship between the two countries.

Earlier reports had it that Saudi Ambassador to the Philippines Abdullah Al-Hasan had announced that his country would resume issuing applications for working visas for the domestic workers following negotiations with Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, in which the two reportedly reached an agreement that resolved all issues relevant to the resumption of the working visas.

Al-Hasan had said that the resumption would not take longer than a month’s time.

Early last year, the Saudi Arabian government stopped processing, verifying, and authenticating applications from the country’s domestic workers following disagreements in wages. The Philippines wanted the domestic workers to get a minimum monthly salary of $400 but Saudi Arabia found it too high, saying the average was only $200.

In a statement, Binay, also presidential adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) concerns, also noted that the decision of the Saudi government to increase the wages for the workers was proof of its commitment to better protect Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia.

“The Saudi government has extended to the Philippine government all the needed assistance to protect our workers…..These gestures of goodwill are affirmations of the strong relations between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia,” Binay said.