Hundreds of Filipino workers abroad are now being displaced because of the political and economic turmoil in the Middle East, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
In a news conference on Monday, labor executives reported over 600 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have already lost their jobs in Qatar due to its ongoing diplomatic conflict with other Middle East and African countries.
“We looked at the companies where these Filipinos worked and, apparently, a lot of them are owned by Saudi companies. So this might be, on face value, a divestment of Saudi from Qatar,” Labor Undersecretary Ciriaco A. Lagunzad III said.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said they will extend aid to the affected OFWs. “For those who would like to stay [in Qatar], we would help them find new work. But for those who already wanted to go home, we would repatriate them and offer them our reintegration program.”
Last year, several Arab countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt severed their ties with Qatar due to its alleged links to terrorism. Qatar denied the allegations.
This prompted the DOLE to temporarily suspend the processing of overseas employment certificates—a mandatory document for Filipinos to work abroad—for Filipinos bound for Qatar.
Lagunzad was part of the team sent by Bello to the Middle East in December 2017 to assess the impact of the conflict to OFWs.
Bello said they are closely monitoring the conflict since it might lead to the displacement of more OFWs in Qatar in the long run.
“The diplomatic [conflict in the] relations between Qatar and the Middle East countries is worsening…. In fact the leader of our OFW organization visited me last week and informed me about the incidents of stoppage of work and separation of work,” Bello added.
Likewise, the DOLE is now also keeping a close watch in Saudi, as it struggles to cope with the decline of oil price in the international market, which started since 2014.
Lagunzad said the oil-rich country is now also cutting down its funds for its “development” and generous subsidies for its citizens after it saw a significant decline in its revenues.
This resulted in a sluggish Saudi economy, which led many establishments to stop their operations, leading to the displacement of workers. To deal with its rising unemployment, the Saudi government started the more aggressive enforcement of its “saudization program,” wherein Saudi nationals will have priority of being hired for certain positions.
“There are now 19 categories [under the saudization program]. And they are adding some more…an example of these are drivers, which is now being reserved for Saudi nationals,” Lagunzad said. “This is the reason some Filipinos lost their jobs [in KSA].”
The impact of the Saudi’s economic woes also led its government to implement new income-generating policies, which include taxing the dependents of migrant workers living in Saudi.
“Children and dependents of some OFWs are now paying about 4,000 riyals per annum. So the tendency is for our OFWs to send home their dependents because this is a cost in Saudi,” Lagunzad said. “These are part of the economic adjustment of the Saudi to face the reality that oil prices will tend to be about just $50 per barrel.”
Bello said he will be deploying a rapid response team headed by Overseas Worker Welfare Administration Deputy Administrator Arnel Ignacio to the Middle East this month so they could continue to monitor the status of OFWs in Qatar, Saudi and Kuwait.
Aside from displacement, he said the team will also asses the incidents of OFWs of who are being abused by their employers in the said countries.
Depending on the report of the team, Bello said he may consider suspending the deployment of OFWs in some Middle East countries. “At the end of the day we have to be sure of the welfare of our OFWs. So if we find out our workers are being abused, the department will not hesitate to impose a suspension or a deployment ban.”
According to the latest data of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, majority, or a million, of the1.6 million land-based OFWs deployed abroad in 2016 went to the Middle East.
Saudi remains their top destination with 460,121 deployed OFWs. Qatar came in third with 141,304 OFWs.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza