THE Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh has suspended 57 recruitment agencies and 40 employers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for their supposed involvement in cases of distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
In a statement released by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Labor Attaché Fidel Macauyag reported that 39 errant Saudi recruitment agencies and 18 companies were suspended, while over 40 employers were blacklisted in just a period of one month.
“This is part of our campaign to cleanse the recruitment agencies,” said Macauyag, adding:
“This is the only way to lessen welfare cases among our OFWs.”
He said the Philippine government will not think twice of penalizing erring agencies and employers to ensure the protection of OFWs in Saudi Arabia.
This, he stressed, is especially since there are over 600 Saudi-based recruitment agencies.
“Maybe we can compress this number to 100, or even less, in the coming months. We do not need many recruitment agencies. We just need a few good ones, which can be our partners,” he said.
“To our recruitment agencies, if you have unfavorable practices towards our workers, it is about time you stop it,” Macauyag warned.
