Exodus from Qatar may leave many OFWs jobless –DOLE exec

By RIE TAKUMI, GMA News
The diplomatic crisis presently affecting Qatar could result in several Filipino workers losing their jobs, Labor Undersecretary Dominador Say admitted Friday.
Interviewed during an anti-illegal recruitment summit in Pasay City, Say said a meeting between labor and foreign affairs officials on the Middle East situation revealed that at least 150,000 Egyptians may soon be expelled from Qatar.
"If these 150,000, even if we assure that only half of them employ Filipinos, whether service workers, whether skilled or highly-skilled workers, if these Egyptian employers suddenly are expelled, we will be seeing an episode again of several of our compatriots who will be left without employers," Say said.
If proven true, Say said the sudden exodus would either lead household service workers with no accommodations or, as in the case in Saudi Arabia or Libya, be taken to other countries with their employers.
"If these Egyptians suddenly go home or expelled from the country, what would happen to these household service workers?" Say said. "Salary is just a second problem, but the first problem is where are they staying?"
"We have seen what happened to the stranded employees, OFWs, in Saudi Arabia, and we are seeing the deplorable condition they are in," he added. "This is something we don't want to be repeated in Qatar."
Say said the Qatar government has also expressed reluctance in expelling Egyptian officials.
A report on Washington Post said while Egyptians in Qatar fear backlash from the conflict, Egyptian officials have claimed that the crisis has yet to affect the 300,000 Egyptian nationals who work in Qatar.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has put on hold the overseas employment certificates (OECs) for the 141,443 job orders from Qatar following the suspension of deployment of OFWs.
POEA OIC Aristodes Ruaro said there are "more than 25,000 balik manggagawas" and 8,500 new hires with OECs who will be deployed to Qatar.
There are about 250,000 registered Filipinos in Qatar. —KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more