Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 2) — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration hopes to finish soon new verification guidelines needed to resume the deployment of Filipino household service workers to Saudi Arabia.
In a virtual briefing on Thursday, POEA administrator Bernard Olalia said temporarily suspending the verification of employment contracts of new domestic workers bound for Saudi Arabia was necessary to prevent abuses.
“Kailangang baguhin natin ang verification guidelines para hindi maulit ang pang-aabuso ng employer,” Olalia said. “Ang gagawin natin sa lalong madaling panahon ay balangkasin natin iyong pagpapagawa ng bagong verification guidelines.”
[Translation: We need to revise the verification guidelines to prevent abuses committed by employers. What we’ll do at the soonest possible time is fast-track the creation of new verification guidelines.]
Olalia acknowledged that hundreds of household service workers are affected by the deployment ban, considering that Saudi Arabia is a large labor market for overseas Filipino workers.
The Department of Labor and Employment issued the directive last Nov. 25.
“As such, a new order shall be issued for the resumption of the processing of documents once the new guidelines have been finalized and fully implemented,” the order stated.
