After attacks, DOLE says PHL ready to evacuate 50k OFWs in KSA

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Tuesday said the government is ready to evacuate around 50,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after the recent attacks on the country's oil sites.

Evacuations of Filipinos in KSA will be conducted when the situation worsens. For now, the department is monitoring possible impacts of the attacks to the safety and security of OFWs, the DOLE said.

“Sa ngayon, walang ulat na natanggap na may OFW na nasaktan o naapektuhan ng pag-atake at walang pagtigil sa trabaho na naiulat,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in a statement.

“Ang ating Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) sa Al Khobar, Riyadh, at Dammam ay nakabantay sa sitwasyon at tinitignan ang kalagayan ng ating mga OFW,” he added.

In view of a possible evacuation, the DOLE is already coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Also, the Labor department vowed helping affected OFWs to find a new jobs in other areas.

Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is locked up in a five-year war, have claimed Saturday's strikes on two plants owned by state giant Aramco.

The number of OFWs who worked abroad during the period April to September 2018 was estimated at 2.3 million, according to Philippine Statistics Authority.

Around 24 percent or around 500,000 of are in Saudi Arabia, which remained to be the top destination of OFWs of the period, PSA records show. —Joviland Rita/LBG, GMA News