PH-Saudi payment scheme proposed

DEPARTMENT of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan Ople has proposed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) a governmentto-government payment scheme for easier processing of some P30 billion in unpaid wages and other benefits due to around 10,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who lost their jobs after several Arab construction companies declared bankruptcy in 2016.

Ople floated the idea following a recent high-level meeting with Saudi Arabia’s minister for Human Resources and Social Development, Ahmad Bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, about the claims of the 10,000 OFWs and other pressing labor matters.

It was during the meeting, Ople added, that they were assured by the Saudi government that the money to pay the OFWs and other nationals was now with the Saudi Ministry of Finance.

“Minister Al-Rajhi gave us the good news that the funds to pay for the unpaid claims are now with the Ministry of Finance, under the full authorization of the central government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Ople said.

She explained that a government-to-government payment scheme would make it easier for the disbursement of payments to the relatives or heirs of OFW claimants who already died.

She added that the benefits could be released faster if it would be the Philippine government, through the DMW, that would determine the beneficiaries.

She pointed out that Saudi Arabia would still have the last say, through a default company committee, that it set up to process the workers’ claims. The committee reports directly to the office of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“But this is something the ministry on its own cannot decide. It has to pass through the default company committee and be elevated to the Office of the Crown Prince and the central government,” Ople added.

DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia, the designated focal person for the OFWs’ concerns, said that qualified claimants shall receive their full payment alongside endof-service benefits after the processing of claims

“We have already validated more than 12,000 claimants, and we have included them in the socalled green list that we submitted before May 24,” Olalia said.

The Saudi government is said to be doing its own validation and processing of claims through its employment database and other legal references.

As to when the payment would actually be released, Ople said there was no timeline yet.