Bello: TWG to fast-track settling of P4.6 billion in unpaid Saudi OFW salaries

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has directed the creation of a technical working group (TWG) to expedite the processing of claims of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were forced to return home from Saudi Arabia in 2016 after they stopped receiving remuneration from their employers.

In a statement on Thursday, Bello said he also ordered the inclusion of OFW representatives in the group that will meet with its counterpart from Saudi Arabia in order to hasten the processing of claims by some 9,000 OFWs.

The marching orders came after the successful talks between the Philippine and Saudi Arabian governments led by Bello and his Saudi counterpart Labor Minister Ahmed al-Rajhi during the Abu Dhabi Dialogue held in Dubai last week.

During the meeting, Al-Rahji agreed to pay the P4.6 billion worth of unpaid wages and benefits to affected OFWs.

“The Department will set up a technical working group which will comprise significant DOLE agencies, such as the labor office in KSA, OWWA, POEA, as well as representatives from the KSA workers’ group, to determine all details relevant to the release of the full settlement,” the Labor chief said.

The Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) are DOLE’s lead agencies in protecting distressed OFWs all over the world.

According to OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, all specifics, such as eligibility, distribution mechanism, and documentary requirements, will be finalized through the TWG and should be ready before the scheduled visit of the KSA labor minister in December this year.

“We acknowledge the urgency of your situation and we are ever-conscious that you have been waiting for your hard-earned and well-deserved wages for more than four years,” Bello said, noting that DOLE hopes to form and convene the TWG next week.

In 2016, the Philippine government repatriated the OFWs after they stopped receiving their salaries following the economic crisis in the Middle Eastern country brought by the plunge in oil prices in the world market.

The OFWs, through the help of state lawyers, won the case over their unsettled pay in Saudi Arabia but until now they still have not received their back wages.— BM, GMA News