MORE than 5,000 jobs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are up for the taking for the stranded overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there, according to the recruitment industry.
In a statement, recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani bared that the Philippine licensed recruitment agencies were able to secure 5,500 jobs for stranded OFWs in Saudi Arabia.
“Those Filipinos can now apply with those companies to get new work permits while waiting for their delayed salaries from the struggling major companies which failed to give their salaries,” Geslani said.
He noted that the 5,500 available jobs were secured after they met with their counterparts in the Chambers of Commerce in Riyadh and Jeddah.
Geslani said the Saudi companies have expressed their willingness to accept and hire the OFWs on the basis of their skills and experience.
It can be recalled that at least 11,000 OFWs have been displaced and stranded in Saudi Arabia for several months already after their respective companies were hit by the oil price crisis there.
Last month, an inter-agency humanitarian mission, led by the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), went to KSA to provide assistance to the displaced OFWs as well as to urge them to avail of the repatriation program offered to them.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said they will allow displaced OFWs to stay in Saudi Arabia only if they are able to find another job opportunity.
Meanwhile, the United Overseas Filipino Worldwide (U-OFW) appealed to the Duterte administration to continue providing assistance to the stranded OFWs by sending another inter-agency humanitarian mission to Saudi Arabia.
“There are still a considerable numbers OFWs for repatriation. Much remains to be done because so many OFWs remain in dire straits in different part of Saudi Arabia,” said U-OFW Convener John Monterona in a separate statement.
He said a "humanitarian mission 2.0" must be organized and dispatched soonest in order to immediately provide assistance to the stranded OFWs.
“Sending them home – the stranded, distressed, and undocumented – would be the best Christmas gift they only want from President Duterte,” Monterona said. (HDT/Sunnex)