Number of distressed workers in Middle East on the rise

MANILA, Philippines - The number of distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East is on the rise, according to a group of migrant workers.

Migrante-Middle East Chapter said their group receives daily an average of three to five cases of distressed OFWs from various countries in the region.

Rodel Makalintal, the group’s media officer, said the government must double its efforts in providing assistance to the increasing numbers of distress and run-away OFWs in the Middle Easter.

“Migrante-KSA is in fact supporting the plan of the RP posts in Saudi Arabia to deploy additional labor and welfare staff so that they could attend on the increasing numbers of OFW cases,” Makalintal said.

The group said labor and welfare officers in the Middle East appear to be sleeping on the numerous cases of distress OFWs.

“It is very disappointing that labor and welfare-related cases of several distressed OFWs, including a case of mysterious death, that were referred to the attention of Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) in the Eastern region have not been acted on until now,” the group said.

Migrante said distressed OFWs deserve full attention and assistance, particularly those whose rights are being violated by their employers.

“Complaints from distressed OFWs and their plea for assistance just fall on deaf ears of POLO-OWWA officials in the Eastern region despite numerous calls and emails for their appropriate action,” the group said.

The labor official who heads the POLO-OWWA in the Middle East is on official leave since last week of December, and Migrante-Al Khobar chapter was informed that he will be back by the second week of January.

“Without their boss, we have observed that several staff of the POLO-OWWA in the Eastern region are only ‘sleeping’ in their offices,” Torres said, adding that it seemed to be a case of “if the cat is away, the mouse will play.”

Almost 400,000 OFWs including undocumented workers are in the Middle East, Migrante-KSA said.

33,000 jobs for Filipinos

The government has opened 33, 000 jobs for Filipinos through a special visa scheme for foreign employers launched last year, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said yesterday.

In a statement, the BI said more than 400 foreign businessmen and their dependents from 34 countries were given indefinite visas.

Reporting to Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, BI legal officer Cris Villalobos said the government also collected fees of more than P5 million from foreigners availing of the special visa for employment generation (SVEG).

Villalobos, who heads the BI-SVEG one-stop-shop, said that of the 425 foreigners who were issued indefinite visas, 271 were principal applicants and 144 were dependents.

“The foreigners have investments, and in some cases, are expatriates employed by 185 businesses operating throughout the country,” the BI said.

The BI said most of the foreign employers who availed of the special visa are based in Metro Manila (107), followed by Central Visayas (35).

Villalobos also reported that 120 South Koreans topped the list of the SVEG recipients, followed by 41 Chinese, 17 Taiwanese, 16 Americans, 11 Britons, 10 Australians, nine Japanese, nine Indians, seven Malaysians, and six Singaporeans.

By region, SVEG gave a total of almost 20,000 jobs in Metro Manila; 6,862 Filipinos were employed in Region IV; approved applicants in Region VII gave a total of 1,806 jobs; and Central Luzon, which houses the Clark Economic Zone and the Subic Bay Economic Zone, netted a total of 1,519 jobs.

The visa entitles the foreigner to stay in the country as long as his or her investment is in effect, the BI said.

Under the rules, the SVEG is issued to a foreigner with an interest in a company or entity that employs at least 10 full-time and regular Filipinos workers either for managerial, executive, professional, technical, skilled, or unskilled positions. – Mayen Jaymalin, Helen Flores