DMW OIC Cacdac to fly to Saudi to ensure payment of unpaid OFW claims

Zen Hernandez, ABS-CBN News

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who used to work for Saudi construction companies that collapsed in 2016 through 2017, said some 300 of them have received direct communication from the Saudi government regarding the issuance of checks for their unpaid claims.According to Edwin Caling, the Saudi government has so far released 3 batches of names with eligible claims, with him being in the second batch. Despite the positive development, some claimants complain of the slow process, especially since they have now waited for over 7 years. He is appealing to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to help fast-track the procedure.“Sa ngayon may lumabas na naman na listahan, bale pang 3rd batch yata yon, halos lahat Indiano naman…Gusto ko malaman kung sino yung nasa listahan na may tseke na at gusto ko ring malaman sino nasa listahan na may mga problema para magsasabay silang gagalaw. Kasi kung maghihintayan o hihintayin natin makabayad sa may tseke na hindi pa nadi-distribute, bago pa lang tayo gagalaw sa may problema, kawawa naman masyado,” Caling said.According to Department of Migrant Workers Officer-in-Charge Hans Cacdac, the processing of checks may have started for a few Filipino claimants, but thousands more are still waiting. Cacdac is scheduled to fly to Saudi in January to thresh out details, clarify the process and make sure that all Filipino claimants will be paid.“Kasi hindi lahat received communication from the Saudi side. So we still want to continually discuss this with our Saudi counterparts in terms of yung ganap na pag-implement nung release ng claims para lahat mabigyan. So at this stage I’ll leave it at that muna, kasi we don’t want to raise so much expectations about the current coordination and communication being received by the beneficiaries until we actually see for ourselves yung pag-release ng proceeds, yung pag-release ng benefits or claims,” Cacdac explained.Based on the DMW’s own list, there are around 12,000 former OFWs from Saudi with unpaid claims. These are the OFWs who were forced to come home in 2016 after being laid off from construction firms that declared bankruptcy after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was plunged into an economic crisis after the 2014-2015 collapse in oil revenue. The companies include three giant firms: Saudi Oger, MMG and Bin Laden.In November last year, the late DMW Secretary Susan Ople announced that Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman personally committed to President Marcos Jr., during the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperations (APEC) Summit, that the Saudi government will settle the backwages and claims.

Cacdac is scheduled to fly to Saudi in January to thresh out details, clarify the process and make sure that all Filipino claimants will be paid.

DMW OIC Cacdac to fly to Saudi to ensure payment of unpaid OFW claims | ABS-CBN

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DMW OIC Cacdac to fly to Saudi to ensure payment of unpaid OFW claims

DMW OIC Cacdac to fly to Saudi to ensure payment of unpaid OFW claims

Zen Hernandez,

ABS-CBN News

Published Dec 29, 2023 07:44 PM PHT

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OFW

Saudi

DMW

Department of Migrant Workers

Hans Cacdac

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