The Department of Migrant Workers announced that another batch of overseas Filipino workers will receive payment for their unpaid wages and other benefits from Saudi Arabian construction companies that went bankrupt between 2015 and 2016.
Officer-in-Charge Hans Leo J. Cacdac made the disclosure after President Marcos earlier announced that some 1,104 OFWs who were displaced by the closure of construction companies in the Middle Eastern kingdom started in late January.
According to the President in a video posted on his Facebook account, around 843 OFWs who received checks from Saudi-based Alinma Bank some 843 have been able to encash these.
The DMW said they are expecting another tranche of 400 checks to be distributed within the next month. This will bring the number of Saudi OFW claimants’ checks distributed for payout and encashment to about 1,500.
The claimants were assisted by the Overseas Filipino Bank and Land Bank of the Philippines by allowing them to open accounts where they could deposit the claims checks and receive their cash payouts.
Cacdac said the remaining 300 or so checks from the first group of checks distributed are due to clear in the next few weeks.
The DMW in the third quarter of 2023 submitted to Saudi authorities a list of 10,554 displaced Saudi OFW claimants with verified iqamas, the official government permit required of foreign nationals to live and work in Saudi Arabia.
“This is just the start of what we see as a deliberate process of distribution of claimants’ checks and encashment resulting into the full payout of each of our displaced OFW’s unpaid claims and other benefits,” Cacdac explains.
However, the DMW chief said a lot of things have yet to be done, among them allowing the heirs of claimants who have passed away to receive the payouts, as well as addressing minor discrepancies in terms of the claimants’ real names and the names written on the checks.
He assured OFWs that the Landbank and Overseas Filipinos Bank are helping the DMW on these issues and concerns.
“We will continue working with our Saudi counterparts to resolve these issues and we will continue assisting our OFWs and their families through this final stage in receiving their long overdue wages and benefits,” Cacdac said.