KSA lauded for addressing distressed OFWs’ plight

RIYADH: Presidential Adviser for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) Atty. Abdullah Mama-o has lauded the Kingdom for favorably responding to concerns of distressed Filipino workers.

“With the positive actions mandated by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, the task of the Philippine Inter-Agency Team focuses on two thrusts,” he said.
He said that one is the cooperation with appropriate Saudi authorities, mainly the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, in ensuring King Salman’s directive regarding OFWs be implemented.
He said the other is to engage distressed OFWs in their campsites to arrange for their repatriation after looking to the preparation and filing their claims in coordination with Saudi law firms hired by the Kingdom. Secretary Mama-o said that team members from the departments of health and social welfare and development ensure that distressed OFWs’ health and psychological problems were fully attended to.
On the other hand, the lawyers from the Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO) Undersecretary Persida Rueda-Acosta, PAO chief, will help in preparing the individual claims of the workers for submission in coordination with the Saudi legal firms.
He said that the inter-agency team had visited an OFW camp in Riyadh with assistance from the staff of the Philippine Embassy, headed by Chargé d’Affaires Iric C. Arribas.
The inter-agency team was accompanied by officials of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh (POLO-Riyadh) headed by Labor Attaché Resty S.M. dela Fuente.
“The OFWs expressed their desire to be repatriated upon being assured that their claims will be filed and processed,” said Mama-o, a classmate of President Rodrigo R. Duterte at the San Beda College of Law.
He clarified that as the royal decree referred to “workers who wished to leave,” then the Philippine team is bound to abide by the wishes of the OFWs who might choose to stay in Saudi Arabia to transfer to other employers.
In the meeting held at the embassy on Aug. 13, with all coordinators representing the five OFW campsites in Riyadh, they also expressed their desire to be repatriated.
Secretary Mama-o will also visit other camps in Jeddah, Alkhobar and other parts of the Kingdom, and is expected to issue guidelines to facilitate processing of the claims and transporting distressed OFWs back home.