DMW to follow up settlement of unpaid salaries of Saudi Arabia OFWs

Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac said Wednesday that they will continue following up on the settlement of the unpaid salaries of more than 10,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia.

Cacdac said they hope that the payment of claims will be done "soon."

“From our talks with our own counterparts there…we were also informed that the Ministry of Finance is on board to take care of the financial matters because this would involve disbursement of funds,” Cacdac said in an interview on CNN Philippines.

“It’s just hard to pin down a timeline at this point because the Saudi processes still continue. In principle, we respect the Saudi processes, and at the same time we’ll continue to persist in terms of coordination and follow-ups with the Saudi government,” he added.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia assured him that the settlement of the OFWs’ unpaid wages was already being processed.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in November 2022 committed to allocate some 2 billion riyals for the unpaid salaries of some 10,000 overseas Filipinos employed by construction companies that declared bankruptcy in 2015 and 2016.

The DMW in March said it would provide P10,000 in aid to each worker waiting for the Saudi government to fulfill its promise. The funding for the initiative came from both the DMW and the Department of Social Welfare and Development. —Giselle Ombay/ VAL, GMA Integrated News