THE Department of Labor and Employment has assured displaced overseas Filipino workers from Saudi Arabia of continued assistance while awaiting final court action on their unpaid wages and other monetary claims.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration was doing all efforts to claim money from their financially-distressed companies in the kingdom.
Bello said the President was fully aware of the affected OFWs’ concern and would do everything for the welfare of OFWs.
OWWA officials said they were coordinating with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Al Khobar to hasten the processing of the OFWs’ monetary claims before the Saudi court.
“I’m part of the team sent by Secretary Bello to monitor and follow up claims and we found out that the court decision is still under translation but there was already a partial decision which our OFWs will receive in due time,” the OWWA Repatriation Assistance Division chief Ceasar Chavez said.
He said they were going through the labor cases filed by around 100 OFW late-claimants so they could also receive their unpaid wages and benefits from their employers.
Meanwhile, Bello encouraged the OFWs who seek micro-finance loans to go to the OFW Bank which caters to the remittances and other banking needs of migrant workers.
“In October, the OFW Bank will start to operate so instead of applying loan to (sic) the LandBank or other banks, it is better to go to OFW Bank,” Bello said.
OWWA, together with the National Reintegration Center for OFWs, continues to extend assistance to the repatriated OFWs through livelihood assistance and skills training.
