Binay: 4,500 OFWs from Saudi to be repatriated

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has agreed to facilitate the repatriation of 4,500 overstaying overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Vice President Jejomar Binay said on Wednesday. However, Binay said the Philippine government will need at least P143 million for the plane tickets of the 4,500 overstaying OFWs. “The decision to facilitate the repatriation of the ‘overstayers’ is a favor we owe to the generosity of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, who has amnestied so many OFWs in the past," Binay said in a news release posted on the Office of the Vice President's website on Wednesday. Binay added that he has already instructed the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh to work on the travel documents of the OFWs. The repatriation will start once the required travel documentations are completed and the OFWs have acquired plane tickets, he said. "Until this happens, the government will have to continue paying 15 Saudi Arabian Riyals per day for every OFW awaiting repatriation at the Hajj Terminal," he said. Household workers According to Binay, ranking ministers of the Saudi government are hoping that the issue of overstaying Filipinos would be resolved soon "so that the hiring of more household workers, which is now suspended, could soon resume." This will pave the way for the resumption of the hiring of Filipino household workers in Saudi. Binay said a bilateral meeting will be held in Manila starting April 15 to discuss the issue. The Saudi officials said many Filipinos have become part of Saudi households, some have stayed with the same Arab family for around 25 years. Binay quoted one minister as saying, “We cannot help but love them and take care of them because they rear our children with such gentleness and love." Binay, who also met with Saudi Labor Minister Adel Fakeih, said the Saudi government was determined to reform the entire recruitment process for the benefit of the workers and their host and employers. Among the projected reforms would be the setting up of a 24-hour hotline which employees could use to report any complaint to the authorities. Binay also had productive meetings with Saudi and Qatar’s political leaders, leading financiers and investors, who all expressed high hopes for the Aquino administration. He said they agreed to consider the Philippines as a possible site for significant investments in agriculture, infrastructure and renewable energy. “This trip has further strengthened my faith in our OFWs as our most effective ambassadors abroad, and that partly because of them we have gained true and sincere friends in the highest places in the Middle East," he said. – VVP, GMA News