DMW awaits next batch of checks for displaced Saudi OFWs ---- By GMA Integrated News

The second batch of checks to pay for the indemnity claims of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who got displaced by the bankruptcy of their Saudi Arabia employers has yet to be released, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Wednesday. At a media forum, DMW officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac said that a budget has been allocated for the next tranche of payments, but claimants have to be patient about it, considering that it’s Ramadan. “We are awaiting the next batch of checks to be released. The Saudi Labor Minister says that succeeding releases will come. There is already a budget allocated for this, but we just have to be patient with the process of the Saudi side,” Cacdac said. For the first batch, he said around 1,500 OFWs have received their checks amounting to P1 billion. However, some claimant families of OFWs who have already died have yet to acquire theirs. DMW Assistant Secretary Jerome Alcantara said the agency is currently assisting 29 heirs of deceased OFWs to comply with the requirements and ensure that they get the checks. Fifty-two claimants who have discrepancies in their names are also being helped by the DMW. The DMW earlier partnered with the Land Bank of the Philippines and its savings bank catering to overseas Filipinos to fast-track the delivery of indemnity claims to affected OFWs, as well as the claimant family members of those who have since died. In November 2022, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman committed 2 billion riyals for the unpaid salaries of 10,000 OFWs employed by construction companies that declared bankruptcy in 2015 and 2016. It was only last month when President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. announced that the displaced OFWs have started receiving their intended compensation. —Giselle Ombay/ VAL, GMA Integrated News

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