Several overseas and local firms are willing to hire skilled overseas Filipino workers (OFW) displaced by the raging war in Sudan, according to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
DMW Secretary Susan V. Ople said they are now coordinating with MedPro International and Carnival Corporation and Princess Cruises, which have expressed interest in employing the affected OFWs.
She said they are also in talks with the Saudi recruitment industry association, PeaceMe, and the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development to provide employment opportunities to those who fled Sudan.
A local manning company, Magsaysay People Resources/Magsaysay Maritime Corporation also said it can provide job offers to the displaced.
Ople said DMW would be submitting the profiles of the displaced seafarers for the consideration of the said employers.
“They’re willing to look at the profiles of those who came from Sudan because I told them these are skilled workers…they said they are willing to look at the profiles,” Ople said in a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
The DMW chief said the government was already able to evacuate 600 of 777 Filipinos from Sudan, who requested aid from the Philippine embassy.
She said all the rescued, who arrived in Egypt each received a $200 cash aid as well as livelihood package.
DMW and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will provide the families of the workers P100,000 worth of livelihood packages and financial aid.
Clashes between Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, which erupted last month, prompted many countries, including the Philippines, to evacuate their nationals from Sudan.
Ople is currently in Washington D.C. as part of the delegation, who accompanied President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in his working visit in the United States.
During the trip, she said she met with several anti-human trafficking organizations and the US State Department.