PHILIPPINE labor authorities have sanctioned 100 erring employers and foreign recruitment agencies (FRA) in Saudi Arabia for violating deployment protocols, even as Manila lifted at the weekend a short-lived deployment ban to press recruiters to shoulder the quarantine and insurance costs of overseas Filipino workers.
In a statement, Labor Attaché Fidel Macauyag said that of the 100 that were sanctioned, 39 were recruitment agencies and 18 companies.
The remaining 40 were employers, who were blacklisted by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), Macauyag said.
Also at the weekend, Philippine Airlines advised OFWs who were bumped off at the last minute from flying to Riyadh, on orders of immigration officials, that they could now rebook their flights after DOLE lifted the deployment ban. PAL said it was waiving the rebooking fees of the hundreds of workers, who were stranded on Friday at Naia.
Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said on Sunday he instructed concerned government agencies to extend aid to the stranded OFWs.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) provided for the immediate needs of the OFWs including food, accommodation, transport and other necessities.
“So far, we were able to help 200 [OFW] in terms of the following: accommodation, rebooking and reswab testing,” OWWA Administrator Hans Cacdac told BusinessMirror in a Viber message.
“Also possibly coordination with the Saudi embassy for extension of expired reentry visas,” he added.
For its part, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) helped the affected OFWs in terms of the Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC).
“Any expired OEC will be revalidated free of cost and expired visa will be assisted by the PRAs (Philippine Recruitment Agencies) thru the POEA strict monitoring protocols to the agencies,” POEA Administrator Bernard P. Olalia told BusinessMirror in a separate Viber message.
Employers, recruiters clean-up
Meanwhile, according to Labor Attache Macauyag, the sanctions on the 100 foreign recruitment agencies in Saudi are part of their ongoing efforts to “cleanse” the list of 600 employers and FRAs in Riyadh. This will ensure that only those compliant with the government’s employment and deployment regulations for OFW will remain in business.
“We do not need many recruitment agencies, we just need a few good ones, which can be our partners,” Macauyag said. Aside from purging their registry, he said they also orient FRAs on their responsibilities to their OFW clients.
“Agencies are solidarily and jointly liable with employers. That is why if anything bad happens to our OFWs, this is part of their responsibility,” Macauyag said.
The labor official said the measures are expected to reduce the number of cases of distressed OFWs in Riyadh.
PAL advisory
Starting Saturday, May 29, PAL said it will accept OFWs on its flights to Saudi Arabia (Dammam and Riyadh), a day after same 300 workers were offloaded due to a Labor department prohibition.
PAL said the ban was lifted after the Philippine government received official communication from KSA “that foreign employers and agencies will assume the costs of quarantine protocols upon arrival in the kingdom.”
OFWs who were unable to board their flights to Dammam and Riyadh due to the earlier prohibition may rebook their flights “with rebooking service fees waived,” said PAL Spokesman, Cielo Villaluna.
Affected passengers may call PAL Reservations at +63 8855 8888 for flight rebooking.