Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 24) – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reported in his State of the Nation Address on Monday about the resolution of worker deployment to Saudi Arabia.
“The deployment issue in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now been resolved. As of today, 70,000 of our OFWs have already been deployed to Saudi Arabia for employment,” Marcos said.
The country stopped sending worker to the Middle Eastern nation in 2021. The government said the issue was resolved in November 2022.
“The unpaid salaries and other related claims of some 14,000 OFWs who have been put out of work in Saudi Arabia during the pandemic are now being processed,” the president further said.
Around 10,000 OFWs remained unpaid after their employer construction firms went bankrupt in 2015 and 2016 due to Saudi Arabia’s economic slowdown.
“The crown prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia himself personally committed to me that the unpaid claims of Filipino workers would now be claimed,” he added.
In May, the Department of Migrant Workers said Saudi Arabia wanted to hire up to one million Filipino workers within 18 to 24 months, adding that it would work with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to achieve this.
