A migrant rights advocacy group has called on the Philippine government to provide due assistance to at least one million Filipinos facing threats of massive layoffs due to Saudization.
Hopeful overseas Filipino workers bound to Hong Kong are asking the government for help as the repeated travel bans and flight cancellations have left them stranded here in Metro Manila, putting their work abroad at risk as well.
Overseas Filipino workers and their families only saw broken campaign promises in the last five years of the Duterte presidency.
Nine overseas Filipino domestic workers are still reeling from inhumane treatment and various forms of violence that the International Labor Organization sought to eradicate more than 10 years ago.
A Filipina domestic helper stranded in Saudi Arabia is asking the government to have her repatriated so she can undergo hemorrhoid surgery.
For the past five years, all that 10 Filipino migrant workers stranded in Saudi Arabia can see are the ceilings and walls of their former employer’s housing facility. On most days, their spirits are dampened. Still, they hope to be reunited with their families someday.
After more than three decades of being one the country’s so-called modern day heroes, Estela’s family laments that they are now left on their own, without government aid provided to them.
Migrante said that Duterte and Bello failed to address the government’s inefficiency in conducting and releasing the results of the PCR test which is what leads to prolonged quarantine periods and additional costs.
“Refunding the training fees in full is a financial relief to the eager claimants amid the impacts of the pandemic to their work and to the families they have left behind in the Philippines. This will also give them a sense of justice.”
Migrante International said there are thousands of OFWs who lost their jobs who have yet to receive any financial assistance from the government.
While their employers benefit from social protections, they continue to expect their domestic workers to continue to serve not six but now seven days a week.