Some stranded OFWs in Jeddah turn to trash for food

Foreign workers including Filipinos who were retrenched from their work in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, have resorted to picking discarded food items from a grocery store for their next meal.

http://images.gmanews.tv/webpics/2016/07/640_ofwpulot_2016_07_21_20_30_52.jpg

The Filipinos, who refused to return to the Philippines until they received their unpaid salaries and end-of-service benefits from their former employers, said they've been doing this for months now.
Together with other retrenched foreign workers, the Filipinos would pick vegetables, chicken parts and fish that have been discarded or have fallen during deliveries to the grocery store. Some food items were given to them by the delivery boys.
The Filipinos are appealing to President Rodrigo Duterte to have a dialogue with the King of Saudi Arabia to discuss their plight.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III was set to fly to Saudi Arabia on Thursday night to personally assess the situation of the stranded OFWs there.
According to pro-OFW group Migrante International, some 11,000 OFWs have been retrenched and are currently stranded in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia-based companies, particularly those involved in construction, have been downsizing since last year due to a slump in oil prices.

 —Ronaldo Concha/KBK, GMA News

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