OFW deployment to Saudi Arabia remains suspended: DOLE

MANILA – The deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Saudi Arabia remains suspended, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Thursday.

The agency issued the clarification contrary to a bogus advisory purportedly titled “Advisory No. 69 series of 2022” dated April 4, 2022, claiming that Manila’s deployment ban to the kingdom has already been lifted.

“It is fake! There is no iota of truth to the content of that advisory. The suspension of deployment (to Saudi Arabia) remains,” DOLE Information and Publication Service director Rolly Francia said in a statement.

Francia said the fraudulent document only aims to sow confusion among the public and the workers who are seeking deployment to the kingdom.

He added that Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) chief Bernard Olalia has confirmed that he has neither signed nor issued such advisory which is meant “apparently to mislead or confuse the public on DOLE policies.”

“The unscrupulous authors of the sham manufactured the document by using an old advisory and substituted its contents for it to appear as a legitimate issuance. Thus, it also suggests intention to compromise the credibility of POEA and injure the current leadership of the agency,” the labor official added.

At the same time, he said the DOLE has already sought the help of law enforcement agencies to track down the source of the bogus advisory.

“We intend to apply the full force of the law to whoever is behind this very criminal act which could undermine the welfare of our migrant workers,” he added.

In November last year, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered Manila’s labor attaches in Saudi Arabia to stop the verification of new contracts for household service workers while a technical working group is crafting new verification rules for their deployment.

The matter involved the non-payment of salaries and end-of-service benefits for one to two years of the OFWs in the kingdom which has amounted to over PHP4 billion.