A number of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia have refused to return to the Philippines as their employers can’t pay their salaries for five months, according to the Labor Department.
Migrante International said that many Saudi employers, mostly in the construction and oil firms, have incurred delays in giving the salaries of their workers.
The delayed payment of thousands of foreign workers was blamed on the drop in the prices of oil products.
The DoLE also expressed apprehension that hundreds of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia face arrest because their iqamas or residence permit have yet to be renewed, which makes them vulnerable to arrest.
Migrante Philippines appealed to the Philippine authorities to help convince the Filipinos to return to the country and look for other jobs.
The Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Jeddah said that it is currently assisting OFWs who have filed labor cases against their employers before the Saudi Labor Court.
Philippine labor officials are pressing authorities and executives in Saudi Arabia to ensure that local construction firms give their salaries to thousands of workers.
Since late last year, the Saudi government has responded to shrinking oil revenues by clamping down on state spending to curb a budget deficit running at about $100 billion annually.