MANILA: The Philippine Department of Migrant Workers launched on Friday the Middle East leg of its “service caravan” in Riyadh, as officials seek to provide an all-in-one stop of essential government services for overseas Filipinos in the region.
Saudi Arabia is the leading destination for overseas Filipino workers, with about 898,000 of them currently living and working in the Kingdom.
The DMW collaborated with other government agencies to bring them the Serbisyo Caravan, or service caravan, an outreach program that offers various state services.
“The Serbisyo Caravan here in the Middle East is part of the government’s ongoing program to bring vital services directly to our OFWs,” Rommel Romato, the Philippine consul-general in Jeddah, told Arab News.
“By gathering multiple agencies in one place, the caravan makes it easier and faster for OFWs to access assistance without needing to make special trips to the Philippines.”
The services include welfare counseling, free legal consultations, business support assistance, as well as registration and processing of official documents, among other things that are usually only available within the Philippines.
Many Filipino nationals in the Saudi capital flocked to take advantage of the service caravan, with large numbers queuing since Friday morning, as seen in a video posted by the DMW on Facebook.
“We want to regularize this program as we expand our diplomatic and consular services to millions of OFWs abroad,” Romato said.
Philippine First Lady Louise Marcos arrived in Riyadh on Friday to oversee the launch of the outreach program. As part of the working visit, she will also meet with Filipino migrant workers in the Kingdom, according to Presidential Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro.
Though Philippine officials first launched the service caravan in Hong Kong last month, Friday’s service marks the first time it was brought to the Middle East.
After Riyadh, the DMW is set to take the caravan program to the Saudi cities of Jeddah and Alkhobar, as well as Qatar and the UAE in July and August.
Around 20 percent of Filipino migrant workers are in Saudi Arabia, while about 13.6 percent live and work in the UAE, and another 6.2 percent are in Qatar.
