Gov’t ready to help Pinoys in Saudi

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang has assured the public that the government is prepared to extend assistance to undocumented Filipinos in Saudi Arabia after the oil-rich kingdom gave foreign workers until Nov. 3 to obtain legal status in the country.

“We continue to make the necessary representations and we will continue to push to help everybody who needs assistance there,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a phone-patch interview last Friday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the office of Vice President Jejomar Binay are “making several representations” with the government of Saudi Arabia, and repatriations of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) has already reached 4,000.

“The DFA continues to make representations on behalf of our OFWs when it comes to meeting the deadline. We are going to have to continually push our efforts to make sure that everybody who needs to have their papers fixed will be fixed,” Valte said.

“There is already a particular deadline that we’re working with, which is why in the past months, we, as well as the DFA, have made consistent appeals to our people there to avail of the help that is being given by our post there,” she added.

Press Secretary Herminio Coloma said coordination between diplomatic channels is ongoing along with the office of Binay, who has also been designated as Presidential Adviser on OFWs Concerns.

Coloma said Binay had sent a letter to Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to appeal that foreign workers be given another extension to correct their working status in the kingdom.

After the Nov. 3 deadline, the Saudi government is expected to crack down on illegal foreign workers.

The crackdown against illegal workers started on March 28 because of the kingdom’s Saudization policy or nitaqat which encourages the employment of Saudi nationals in private firms.

King Abdullah stopped the crackdown against illegal immigrants and foreign workers in April. He deferred the deadline from July 3 to Nov. 3, the end of the Islamic year, in response to requests made by Saudi companies and employers who reportedly cited the backlog in the processing of documents in certain offices.

Meanwhile, Filipino professionals working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can look forward to higher wages and better working conditions.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Philippine government is set to negotiate with the UAE a new agreement providing better wages and working conditions for Filipino professionals. – With Mayen Jaymalin