Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz urged undocumented Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia to take advantage of job openings as more companies are seeking to hire workers, especially in Jeddah.
Baldoz said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Jeddah organized a job fair to convince undocumented Filipino workers to fix their documents and legalize their stay in the kingdom.
The first job fair was held at the tent area where undocumented Filipino workers in Jeddah are staying.
A second job fair is scheduled to be conducted as more private companies in Saudi want to hire Filipino workers, said Baldoz.
POLO said hotel groups like Hilton,Marriot hotel and Ramada Hotel Chain Groups posted job openings for undocumented workers in Jeddah.
The other private firms that joined the Philipppine job fair include: Aba International, Abdulatif Jameel (Komatsu), Arabian Entertainment, Hill Metals Est., Mesdaaq Furniture, NCT, Pinehill Arabia (Indomie), and Woodroc.
According to POLO records, about 10,000 illegal OFWs— 3,500 in Riyadh and 6,500 in Jeddah — have been registered and profiled since Saudi Arabia intensified its campaign against illegal workers.
The kingdom’s Saudization policy required private firms there to give priority to the hiring of Saudi nationals as their employees over foreign workers.
The policy is expected to displace some two million undocumented foreign workers including Filipinos.
Warning to OFWs
Meanwhile, Labor attaché Alejandro Padaen warned Filipinos in Saudi against getting lured into the job offers of a certain Abdul Aziz Khamees, a Saudi national who reportedly ordered the removal of the tarpaulin banners announcing the POLO jobs fair.
Khamees is allegedly recruiting runaway Filipino women to work for his clients as cleaners, Padaen said.
Khamees will then reportedly take their passports and make them sign a document stating they will pay him a penalty of 5,000 Saudi Riyals if they decide to withdraw the passports.
He said POLO-Jeddah received numerous complaints that Khamees failed to deliver promised jobs.
These complaints were endorsed to Consul Leo Tito Ausan of the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah, he added. – VVP, GMA News
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