The Philippines has lifted its temporary deployment ban to Saudi Arabia after the latter agreed to spare overseas Filipino workers from having to shoulder the costs of COVID-19 testing and quarantine.
The lifting of the ban, which lasted for all of 24 hours, cleared the way for over 400 OFWs stranded at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 to finally leave for the Middle Eastern country.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said he received a call from Saudi Ambassador to Manila Abdullah-Al-Bussairy confirming the new COVID-19 arrangement for OFWs.
Prior to the new arrangement, OFWs are required to shoulder their COVID-19 swab test and 10-day quarantine period which could cost up to $3,500.
“That is already equivalent to almost one year of wages of our OFW,” Bello said.
“We cannot put the OFWs at the mercy of their employers. There should be a written order that their employers will shoulder the quarantine expenses of our OFWs…I talked to the ambassador and I told him a note verbale will suffice,” the Labor chief added.
The Saudi Embassy in Manila confirmed the deployment resumption over Twitter and assured OFWs they would no longer be burdened by the travel protocol costs upon their arrival in the kingdom.
“The embassy would like to report on the resumption of sending Filipino workers after the temporary suspension, in agreement with the Filipino side, and to clarify the Kingdom’s government’s keenness to protect departing workers from the costs of precautionary protocols,” the embassy said in a statement.
For its part, flag carrier Philippine Airlines on Saturday resumed normal commercial flight operations to and from the Middle East.
“PAL is pleased to accept Overseas Filipino Workers on its flights to Saudi Arabia (Dammam, Riyadh),” said PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna.
On Friday, two Philippine Airlines flights departed Manila practically empty to the Middle East. But PAL officials decided to continue the flights so it can serve hundreds of OFWs and other Filipinos who urgently need to fly home to the Philippines.
Villaluna said affected OFWs who were unable to board their flights to Dammam and Riyadh due to the earlier prohibition “may rebook their flights with rebooking service fees waived.”
“Affected passengers may call PAL Reservations at +63 8855 8888 for flight rebooking,” she said.