Saudi Arabia Labor Minister wants to meet Bello over unpaid salaries of 9,000 OFWs

Saudi Arabia's Labor Minister is seeking to meet Philippine Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to address the plight of over 9,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have yet to receive their salaries and benefits from their employers. According to Jun Veneracion's "24 Oras" report on Tuesday, Bello and other labor officials are in Dubai where they will also have a meeting with the Saudi Arabia Labor Minister. If there will be no clear solution to help the affected OFWs, Bello will recommend that President Rodrigo Duterte impose an OFW deployment ban on Saudi Arabia. The DOLE previously put a temporary suspension on OFW deployment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after foreign recruitment agencies there refused to shoulder the cost for COVID-19 safety protocol and insurance coverage. But this was lifted in May after the Saudi government confirmed that foreign employers and agencies will pay for institutional quarantines and other COVID-19 protocols upon arrival in the KSA. — Consuelo Marquez/DVM, GMA News

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