SAUDI Arabian and American companies are interested in hiring Filipinos working in Sudan who are currently being repatriated to the Philippines, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan Ople said.
Ople, in a briefing in the United States on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila), said some of the employers of the evacuated Filipinos are interested in transferring them to their branches outside of Sudan.
She said the government is also offering livelihood assistance to those who would prefer to stay in the Philippines.
Ople said these are some of the employment options currently available to evacuated Filipino workers from Sudan.
“There are employers in the US and also in the cruise ship industry and in Saudi Arabia that are very much interested and would like to see the profiles of our workers from Sudan.
And…livelihood assistance is in place to provide them with a fresh start in life,” she said, without naming the specific companies.
Ople said a team from DMW led by Undersecretaries Patricia Yvonne Caunan and Bernard Olalia are set to fly to Saudi Arabia next week for a meeting with the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development on May 24 about the job opportunities for the Filipinos.
She said some Saudi Arabian firms are already looking at the profiles of the evacuated Filipino workers.
REPATRIATION
Ople said about 160 of the initial 340 evacuated Filipinos are set to arrive by batches in the Philippines until Friday. Some of them were due to arrive last Wednesday from Riyadh.
She said talks are ongoing for a possible chartered flight out of Egypt after they learned that the Philippine Airlines had forged a partnership with Egypt Air.
She said each Filipino evacuated from Sudan is given $200 in financial aid that they can use while they are staying in Egypt and awaiting repatriation.
She said a P100,000 humanitarian assistance — P50,000 from DMW given to the workers and P50,000 from the Overseas Worker Welfare Administration given to their families — are also being provided to the Filipinos on their return to the Philippines.
Ople said President Marcos Jr. is very concerned about the welfare of the Filipinos in Sudan and those evacuated from the African country.
PROTECTING OFWS
Ople said the government is also exerting efforts to promote the interest and welfare of Filipino workers abroad, including those in the US.
She said that on the sidelines of the President’s official visit, she met with several US-based anti-human trafficking organizations and asked for their help in the fight against human trafficking.
She said they also offered pro bono lawyers to assist victims of human trafficking in the US.
“And then I learned that there is a special visa for domestic workers hired by diplomats and members of international organizations. They call it the A3 and G5,” Ople said.
She said those with A3and G5 visas are met periodically by the US State Department “so they can check on their work conditions, quality of life, and whether their labor rights are being upheld.”
She said the DMW is considering incorporating the information about the special visas in the pre-departure under the department for domestic workers who are directly-hired by diplomats or members of the international community.
Ople also met with Kelly Rodriguez, special representative on International Labor Affairs, about the plight of Filipino workers in various US military bases outside the Philippines, but did not elaborate.
She said that there was a “need to protect our workers employed in various US military installations outside the Philippines.”
In a series of social media posts, the DMW said all arriving OFWs were provided psycho-social counseling, stress debriefing, medical referral, and temporary accommodation while awaiting transit to their respective provinces.
They also received “care pack bags” that included water, snacks, essential toiletries, first aid items, and basic medicines.
A total of 74 Filipinos from Sudan arrived in the country yesterday, including 44 OFWs, on board Saudia Flight No. SV862.
Last month, clashes broke out across Sudan, particularly in the capital city of Khartoum, between the rival camps of Sudan military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
This forced the Philippine government to undertake a massive evacuation operation to the hundreds of OFWs in Sudan. — With Gerard Naval
