AFTER almost a year, the Philippine government is set to resume deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today, Monday.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is officially lifting the suspension of the verification by the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) of new job contracts for Saudi-bound OFWs.
“Our workers would now be able to find gainful employment in one of the world’s biggest labor markets, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” DMW Secretary Susan Ople said in a press conference last Friday.
With the resumption of OFW deployment to KSA, the DMW chief stressed that Filipinos will be better protected from possible abuses from Saudi employers.
“We won’t reopen Saudi deployment without any clear and solid foundation for the protection of our workers,” said Ople.
She noted that the new Saudi-specific employment contract includes insurance coverage for domestic workers and skilled workers covering unpaid salaries, airfare, refund of recruitment costs in case of unfinished contracts and other contingencies.
Ople said there is also a pre-termination clause in the contract that would allow a domestic worker to transfer to or change employers before the end of the contract based on certain grounds such as the non-payment of salary and cases of abuse/maltreatment.
Under the new policy, she said there is also a joint alternative dispute settlement mechanism that would pave the way for a more transparent, fair, and amicable settlement of employment disputes.
Ople said they will also adopt the integration of the contract and implementation of the wage protection program in ensuring the timely payment of wages to all OFWs.
Ople said there will be a direct referral of cases involving the trafficking and exploitation of OFWs to the MHRSD through its anti-human trafficking department.
She, however, stressed that the lifting of the suspension does not automatically mean that Saudi-bound OFWs will start trooping to airports today.
“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 in Saudi Arabia,” Ople said.
In November 2021, then Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III issued a memorandum instructing the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices in Riyadh, Al-Khobar, and Jeddah to temporarily suspend the verification of employment contracts for Saudi-bound OFWs.
Last September, Ople announced that the deployment of OFWs to Saudi Arabia will resume during the first week of November.
