DOLE, OWWA to provide aid to Dubai-based OFWs

Two government agencies have been tasked to provide assistance – and possibly even redeploy Dubai-based Filipino workers to other Middle Eastern countries – after a debt crisis erupted in the city-state.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) were mandated to take charge of distributing assistance to Dubai-based workers, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said.

Issued by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the order also instructed both agencies to look into the possibility of redeploying workers to other Middle Eastern countries, Remonde added.

The so-called Dubai debt crisis – which took place after a United Arab Emirates (UAE) investment company deferred debt payments for six months – may eventually cut jobs of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Next to Saudi Arabia, the UAE is the Philippines’ biggest source of remittances in the Middle East.

The crisis could force Dubai-based firms to cut jobs in real estate, construction, financial services, travel, and tourism, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said in an earlier statement.

In turn, job losses may cut remittances by as much as $300 million, TUCP secretary general Ernesto Herrera said.

About 200,000 OFWs are employed in Dubai, comprising a bulk of the half a million who work in the entire UAE.

But at the same time, the Press Secretary allayed concerns about job losses, citing employment commitments secured by the President during her visits to the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries.

“The government remains confident of being able to redeploy skilled workers," Remonde said. “Those who may be unable to secure jobs will nevertheless get benefits from OWWA."

These benefits will help them secure retraining or start small businesses in the country, he added.

In the meantime, OFWs may be transferred to the UAE’s other six emirates or in countries like Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, DOLE Secretary Marianito Roque said. - with RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV

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