MANILA (Reuters) â The Philippines has suspended the deployment of workers to Saudi Arabia after it received reports that their employers and recruiters were making them pay for Covid-19 testing, quarantine and insurance upon arrival in the kingdom.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said in a May 27 order that his department will issue an official statement on resumption of deployment after this matter has been clarified accordingly.
It was not immediately clear how many Filipinos bound for Saudi Arabia would be directly affected.
Saudi Arabia was the most preferred destination of overseas Filipino workers in 2019, government data showed, hosting one out of five Filipinos who landed jobs abroad during that year.
The temporary suspension on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has been lifted, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on Saturday, May 29.
(Photo from DOLE Facebook) This, after the Saudi government assur
MANILA: A day after more than 400 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) were prevented from leaving for Saudi Arabia due to ambiguity over who would bear the costs for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests and quarantine measures upon their arrival in the Kingdom, the Philippine government said on Saturday that the deployments had been resumed.
“The temporary suspension of deployment to the Kingdom is hereby lifted,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in a statement.
He added that the Saudi government had assured the Philippines that “foreign employers and agencies will shoulder the costs of institutional quarantine and other COVID-19 protocols upon arrival in the KSA.”
More than two hundred overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are left stranded at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 Friday, May 28 after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) suddenly suspended the deployment of workers to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
(Ariel Fernandez /