OWWA expects Saudi firms will pay OFWs' unpaid wages, benefits soon


Published November 11, 2018 4:07pm 
By RONALDO CONCHA

 JEDDAH —Overseas welfare officials are in high hopes Filipino workers affected by closure of the Saudi Oger firm would soon get their unpaid wages and service benefits soon, an official said last Friday.
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration head Hans Cacdac told GMA News that the agency is waiting for the release of the Filipino workers' claims so that the OWWA can immediately disburse the money.
“Ang Pinaka isyu lamang sa Saudi Oger ay yung takdang araw ng pag re-release ng claims. Nandudoon pa rin ang commitment ng Saudi Government na maging tapat sa pangako at mismo ang Saudi King ang nagsabing tututukan nito ang kumpanya,” Cacdac said.
Cadac is in the Kingdom to personally supervise efforts at helping Filipinos affected mass layoffs due to the closure of a number of companies in Saudi Arabia, including Saudi Oger, Azmeel Contracting, among others.
He even accompanied to the Dammam Airport OFWs laid off by Azmeel Contracting to send them home.
Cacdac is asking OFWs from Oger a little patience, especially that some of them have not been paid their salaries for as long as six months.
In 2016, several companies affected by the Saudi financial crisis have shut down. Thousands of OFWs have not been paid their salaries since then —some for a year.
Aside from unpaid salaries, OFWs are also claiming their service benefits.
An OFW, for instance, is expecting to get 85,000 Saudi Riyals (P1,202,505) from Ogre. His father, the Pinoy worker said,  has been working in the company for 36 years and is expecting to get 130,000 Saudi Riyals (P1,839,125).
The OFW claimed that Labor Secretary Silvester Bello III, when he came over to Saudi Arabia during President Rodrigo Duterte's visit, promised that as soon as the Saudi Ministry of Labor is done reconciling the benefits, the OWWA will release in advance the workers money, which will be reimbursed later from the Saudi firms' payment. 
But he said that only 10 percent of the expected collectible benefits has been released by the OWWA.
Meanwhile, Cadac said that the full release of the OFWs' money could be in a matter of days. —LBG, GMA News

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