DMW to follow up on unpaid salaries of Saudi OFWs

Department of Migrant Workers Officer-in-Charge Hans Leo Cacdac said on Wednesday that they will continue following up on the settlement of the unpaid salaries of more than 10,000 overseas Filipino Workers in Saudi Arabia.

In an interview, Cacdac said that the Ministry of Finance is on board to work on the financial concerns of the OFWs in Saudi Arabia.

"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.

"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.

In November 2022, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to allocate about 2 billion riyals for the unpaid wages of 10,000 overseas Filipino workers employed by construction companies that filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and 2016.

The DMW pledged in March to provide each worker with P10,000 in assistance while waiting for the Saudi Government to fulfill its promise. The DMW and the Department of Social Welfare and Development each contributed financial assistance for the OFWs.