Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Acting Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque today announced that 62 overseas Filipino workers who have been stranded in various regions in Saudi Arabia will be home on or before April 15.
"I have been informed yesterday by our Philippine Overseas Labor Office and the Overseas Welfare Office of the OWWA that 62 OFWs facing various problems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will finally be coming home in three batches, with the last batch coming in on April 15," Roque said in a media release.
Roque said that Labor Attaché Adam Musa and Welfare Officer Romeo Pablo have reported that 31 OFWs from Jeddah will arrive in the Philippines in two batches, the first batch, consisting of eight (8) OFWs flying in via Malaysian Airlines flight 704 on April 10, and the second batch, consisting of 23 OFWs arriving via Etihad Airlines on April 12.
Also on April 12, 15 OFWs who were returned by Saudi immigration authorities to Riyadh will arrive in Manila on board Gulf Airways.
The third batch, consisting of 16 OFWs who were retuned by Saudi immigration authorities to Alkhobar will fly in to Manila via Etihad Airways on April 15.
Roque said the repatriation of the OFWs is part of the government's continuing effort to assist OFWs in distress who wants to come home, even as he noted the strong cooperation between the DOLE and the Department of Foreign Affairs in extending all possible kind of assistance to OFWs in distress.
http://www.dole.gov.ph/news/details.asp?id=N000002178
