176 more stranded OFWs repatriated from Saudi Arabia

JEDDAH – Close to 200 Filipino workers retrenched from Saudi Oger were finally on their way home after months of being stranded in Saudi Arabia, with hopes that they would receive their unpaid salaries before Christmas.
The OFWs — 176 all in all — left Jeddah via a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight on Monday midnight and were expected to arrive in Manila on Tuesday afternoon, according to Labor Attache Jainal T. Rasul Jr.
Consul General Imelda Panolong said the airfares of the OFWs were shouldered by the Saudi Arabian government.
"Etong lahat ng uuwi ngayong gabi ay galing sa Saudi government. Eto 'yung under ng Royal Order ng hari," Panolong said in an interview prior to the departure of the OFWs.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has pledged assistance, including airfare, to the thousands of foreign workers displaced by oil crisis in the Middle East.
Panolong said a total of 264 OFWs have already been repatriated with the help of the Saudi government. 
The latest batch of OFWs who were repatriated were accompanied to the airport by Philippine officials led by Panolong and Rasul and will be met at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) by Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) staff led by its new administrator Hans Leo Cacdac.
One of the repatriates, Redentor Selis, who has been working in Saudi Arabia for 25 years, said they only learned about their flight on the last minute.
"Hapon lang po namin nalaman na uuwi na kami ngayong gabi kaya nataranta kami at nagkumahog na mag-empake ng aming mga gamit, pero masaya na kami," he said.
Most of the OFWs interviewed by GMA News said they are hoping that they would receive their unpaid salaries and end-of-service benefits before Christmas so they would have something to spend for their family.
Some 9,000 to 11,000 Filipinos in Saudi Arabia lost their jobs due to downsizing implemented by large construction firms there amid the oil crisis. —Ronaldo Concha/KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more