Govt to help OFWs to be displaced by ‘Saudization’

GOVERNMENT officials vowed to help 350,000 skilled Filipino workers who will be displaced by “Saudization,” a program in Saudi Arabia designed to cut unemployment of the Middle East country’s subjects.

The Philippine ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ezzedin Tago, in a statement, admitted that Saudization, also called Nitaqat, is “complex and needs further study and scrutiny.”

“Here at the embassy, we have not yet received official information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Labor on the Nitaqat system. I have asked Labor Attache Albert Valenciano to meet with officials of the Ministry of Labor to seek more details on the effects of Nitaqat on the employment of Filipinos here in the Kingdom (of Saudi Arabia), especially those who have been in the kingdom for many years,” Tago said.

During a symposium on Thursday, forum organizer Susan Ople of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center said that the government has to take an active role in explaining the Nitaqat system to workers in Saudi Arabia and their families here in the Philippines.

Aquilino Pimentel 3rd, who also spoke at the synmposium, said that the Philippines has no choice but to respect the Nataqat system.

“They (Saudi Arabian authorities) are clearly looking out for the welfare and advancement of their own citizens. We ought to do the same by preparing a contingency plan for our own (citizens who) would be affected by this nationalization program,” Pimentel, the president of PDP-Laban Party, added.

In response, Ambassador Ricardo Endaya, Department of Foreign Affairs executive director for Migrant Workers’ Affairs, said Tago has been put in charge of submitting recommendations on how to protect the interest of Filipino workers.

Actually, there are 1.4 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich country where 90 percent of the total labor force are foreigners.

Filipino domestic helpers are not covered by Saudization.

Endaya said that he will work for increasing the number of labor officials in Saudi Arabia because of the increasing number of Filipinos in jail there and those waiting for repatriation.

OFWs who attended the forum urged the government officials to relay to policy-makers to amend Republic Act 10022 wherein the requirement for foreign employers to guarantee protection of migrant workers has made employers hesitant to employ Filipinos.

Endaya told the OFW groups to prepare a position paper and submit it to Malacanang.

The labor minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has assured Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment that Saudization will benefit the OFWs.

Saudization or Nitaqat categorizes private companies based on the number of Saudi Arabians employed.
Local and foreign firms are classified into green, if the companies comply with the requirement that at least 10 percent of the total number of staff hired are Saudi Arabianss; yellow, below 10 percent; and red if the companies do not employ any Saudi Arabian.

The Saudi Arabian government wants its subjects to take jobs at private firms, a program that started in 2006.
Some 400,000 Saudis are unemployed. –Jaime Pilapil Reporter, Manila Standard Today