Duterte: Bring Home Affected OFWs in Saudi Arabia

“It will be a forced repatriation. It will be an involuntary repatriation. We cannot afford to let them stay and become a burden to the host country since it will involve feeding thousands of migrant workers and other necessities,” said Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Monday as he prepared to return to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to supervise the forced repatriation operation of 11,000 Filipino workers who lost their jobs in KSA due to the drastic drop of oil prices and have been stranded for months. There are reportedly more than 50,000 Filipino workers who are affected by the oil crisis.

The President has allocated P249 million from his contingency fund to finance the repatriation of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) in KSA. The President has also approved the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration’s Board Resolution No. 06 Series of 2016 which provides one-time financial assistance in the amount of P20,000.00 to each qualified OFW under the Relief Assistance Program (RAP) and another P6,000.00 cash assistance per family. Bello hopes that the financial support would somehow ease the plight of affected OFWs and their families. And according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the king of Saudi Arabia offered airfare back to the Philippines of those who lost their jobs.

The orders of the President is to bring them back home. Bello said that the orders of the President was very precise, “Get them back at any cost.” He added, “That demonstrates the concern of our President for the plight of our migrant workers.”

There are so far only 1,700 Filipinos who have returned home and the government is working to complete the repatriation process as soon as possible. The secretary is set to fly to Saudi Arabia on 15 August to bring home the more than 9,000 OFWs still stranded in nine Saudi jobsites. “The immediate purpose of our visit is to bring home all of them,” Bello said. The only reason that the OFWs will be allowed to extend their stay in Saudi Arabia is if they have managed to secure employment. “Of course, if some were able to get new employment, we will not blame them if they insist on staying,” Bello added.

The labor chief will lead a 40-man delegation to Saudi Arabia to assist the OFWs. The delegation is composed of representatives from the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO). ●