The Saudi Arabian government is processing the wage claims of more than 10,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were left jobless after Riyadh-based construction firms declared bankruptcy in 2015 and 2016, President Marcos said Saturday.
Mr. Marcos also said Philippine-Kuwaiti relations are expected to normalize as the two nations continue threshing out some labor issues, adding that Manila’s deployment bans to the Middle Eastern kingdom, implemented last February, will end soon.
In an interview in Riyadh before flying home to Manila, Mr. Marcos said he received assurance from Saudi Arabia that the unpaid wages of displaced OFWs would be settled.
“It is now being processed. Only the details are being discussed. ‘The list of claimants has been cleared. It has been ironed out. And we are just waiting for the details to be worked out between the Saudi side,” the President said.
In a bilateral meeting with Mr. Marcos on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2022, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to set aside about 2 billion riyals (about P30 billion) for OFWs who were displaced after construction firms in Saudi Arabia went bankrupt.
Before leaving Saudi Arabia, President Marcos met the Filipino community in Riyadh and thanked them for their contributions to the country.
Meanwhile, Mr. Marcos said that during his meeting with Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, they agreed to “continue to discuss some of the obstacles” in the Philippines’ relationship with Kuwait.
This includes the “bans we had imposed for employment,” he said during his arrival speech in Pasay City.
The Kuwaiti prince “was very effusive in saying we should remove all of those and we should continue as we had done before, which is a very important development because for a few months now, we have had to ban the deployment of Philippine workers in Kuwait,” the President said.
“That would end and we will now return to the normal state of affairs with the Kuwaiti government and in fact, they moved very quickly, they have already started discussions at the ministerial level — at the ambassadorial level as well,” Mr. Marcos added.
In another development, President Marcos urged Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries to ensure the availability of petroleum products and fertilizer to Southeast Asian nations amid global challenges.
Mr. Marcos made his request during his intervention at the first ASEAN-GCC Summit in Riyadh on Friday.
Meanwhile, at least 90 distressed OFWs who were repatriated from Saudi Arabia were welcomed and assisted by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Friday night.