Saudi prince arrives in PH to meet with Duterte

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. (KARL NORMAN ALONZO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

President Rodrigo Duterte will meet with Saudi Arabian prince as part of his three-day visit in the Philippines, the Palace said on Sunday, March 18.

Saudi Arabian interior minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif arrived in the country on Saturday evening at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. He was joined by Attachés Mohameed Hamed Al Baraikan and Mohammad Alhamhum, Third Secretary Mohammed Al Otaibi, and embassy official Faris Almutairi.

The Saudi Arabian body also includes Interior Undersecretary Nasir Abdulaziz Al Daood, Deputy Minister of Interior for Security Affairs Abdullah Abdulkarim Alessa, Protocol Director Ahmed Al Sudeiri, Saudi Embassy Deputy Head of Mission Majed Bin Showeil, and First Secretaries Ibrahim Alzahrani and Majed Al Jameel.

The delegation was welcomed by Chief of Presidential Protocol Robert Borje and Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the Philippines Abdullah bin Nasser al Bussairy.

Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Adnan Alonto, OIC Secretary Eduardo Año, Foreign Assistant Secretary for Middle East and African Affairs Hjaaycelyn Quintana, and Philippine Air Force Commanding General Galileo Gerard Kintanar Jr. also welcomed the Arabian prince.

According to Malacañang, the prince was set to meet several Philippine officials on Sunday and Monday, March 18 to 19, at The Fort and Malacañang Palace, including a courtesy call to the President.

The prince will end his visit in Manila with a lunch hosted by the Chief Executive.

It was in April 2017 when the Philippine President went to Saudi Arabia for a two-day state visit that aimed to bolster ties between the two nations.

According to Philippine Consul General to Riyadh Iric Arribas, the meeting was intended to forge at least three deals which were: an agreement between the two countries’ diplomatic academies to explore areas of cooperation; an agreement between two countries’ foreign ministries to regularly discuss areas of cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the Philippines; and an agreement to protect overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Saudi Arabia.

Last month, the Philippine government signed the administrative order to completely ban the deployment of all Filipino workers to Kuwait.

This decision came in the midst of investigations on seven Filipino household workers killed in the Gulf state.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier said that this deployment ban may be expanded if other Arab countries with known rampant cases of maltreatment and abuse fail to assure and build up the welfare of OFWs.