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| These newly repatriated OFWs from Qatar add to the rising number of jobless Filipinos |
More than 40,000 overseas Filipino workers are reportedly stranded in Manila amid the worsening conflict in the Middle East, which has resulted in a deployment ban being imposed on most countries in the region.
This is
apart from the more than 4,000 OFWs who have been repatriated from Middle East
countries since war broke out between Iran and United States-Israeli forces.
Migrant
Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the government is ready to assist all those
who have lost their jobs, adding that there are 200,000 job orders in various
countries now being offered to the displaced workers.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Cacdac
also said the stranded workers may also avail of the livelihood assistance and
training being offered by the Department of Migrant Workers to repatriated
Filipinos.
He added the group were given financial assistance before leaving their
workplace and on arrival in the Philippines.
Apart
from Iran and Israeli, the countries where OFW deployment has been suspended include
Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, along with Gaza,
Syria, and Yemen. A total deployment ban is in force in Iraq and Lebanon.
The stranded workers are mostly
staying at accommodation center of their recruitment agencies, while others have
gone back to their provinces. There are also those who were on vacation or were
about to return to their workplaces when the war broke out.
With no end in sight to the conflict, experts say
the deployment to the Middle East could seriously decline in the second and third
quarters of the year.
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| Latest reintegration fair also targets stranded OFWs |
But
as the crisis cuts deeper into the country,
about half of those who recently returned are said to be planning to return
abroad once the situation in the region stabilizes.
“Many of our returning OFWs, just about 50 percent,
still plan to go back (to work abroad)… Why? Because they have valid employment
visas. There is no problem with that. It only means they were able to properly
ask permission from their employers to go home,” Cacdac said on the sidelines
of a reitegration fair.
Those who do not wish to return
to the Middle East will be helped in going to another country abroad if they so
wish, while those who want to try their luck in the Philippines will be
enrolled in a suitable reintegration program.
Meanwhile, 88 Filipinos from Qatar were brought home on two separate flights over the weekend. They took the number of repatriated OFWs from across the Middle East to 4,241.
