MANILA (AdChoiceTV News) — More than 40 employers in Saudi Arabia were blacklisted by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and another 39 Saudi recruitment agencies, as well as 18 companies, were suspended.
“This is part of our campaign to cleanse the recruitment agencies. We have over 600 Saudi recruitment agencies, but maybe we can compress this number to 100 or even less in the coming months.
We do not need many recruitment agencies, we just need a few good ones, which can be our partners,” says Labor Attache Fidel Macauyag thinking that this move is the ‘only way’ to lessen the vast growing welfare cases filed by Filipino workers abroad.
More importantly, POLO Riyadh made a team of support staff and welfare officers which is called Team Camel that aims to assist distressed Overseas Filipino Workers.
To provide more protection among Filipino workers, POLO Riyadh started to implement a stricter company verification to ensure that the recruitment firms and agencies are working legitimately and also pursuing the right standards.
POLO Riyadh also met with the recruitment agencies in the Gulf country to make sure that they will always show compassion to every Filipino worker.
“We tell owners of recruitment agencies that they should have a welfare officer who has the skill and the compassion to take care of our OFWs, especially the distressed ones.
Agencies are solidary and jointly liable with employers. That is why if anything bad happens to our OFWs, this is part of their responsibility,” says Macauyag
Last week, the Department of Labor and Employment temporarily halted the deployment of OFWs after reports that departing workers were being required by their foreign recruitment agencies and employers to shoulder the costs of the health and safety protocols for COVID-19 and insurance coverage. The ban were lifted after 2 days.
/STC — AdChoiceTV News
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