Binay waits for King Abdullah’s consideration on extension

Manila – “As I acknowledge that thousands of Filipinos have already benefited from this humanitarian Royal Decree, I respectfully appeal for an extension of the November 2013 deadline for foreign workers to correct their employment status in the Kingdom.”

The Vice President of the Philippines and Presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers (OFW) concerns Jejomar “Jojo” Binay humbly waits for positive response from the King of Saudi Arabia after sending a letter requesting for extension.

“I have appealed to King Abdullah Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to give foreign workers another extension to correct their working status in the Kingdom,” Binay stated in his official Facebook page as he deposits apprehension about some thousands of Filipinos who may be arrested or thrown back to the Philippines.

As of October 30, more or less 4,300 Filipino workers returned home while 1,500 others are still on pending pronouncements. A total of 9,000 OFW’s were given travel documents.

The Saudi government will soon penalize those irregular and unauthorized Filipino workers who fail to fix and validate legal work documents after the November 3 grace period that was given by King Saud.

According to migration and recruitment consultant Lito Soriano, the Ministry of Labor in Saudi have already imposed extensions so countrywide raids are to be expected on November 4. In addition, the Saudi government is now ready for inspections, however, disregarding Filipino workers who have already validated their documents and those who still wait for their documents to be processed.

Philippines assists OFW in Saudi

The Philippine government continues to show full support and utmost effort to help the Filipino nationals who suffer from the crisis heated by the Saudization.

DFA spokesman assistant secretary Raul Hernandez said that the Philippine embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah will continue to assist OFW who wish to be retained in their offices or those who want to be repatriated in the Philippines.

According to Communications Secretary Herminio Colomia, Jr., the Philippine government is giving an addition of 2-billion reintegration funds under the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) which is available for Filipinos’ legal, financial and other necessary assistance in Saudi. (Elaine Faye M. Abueva, ABCom/LNU)

 Article Courtesy: Manila Channel