Qatar Labor Minister Vows Help for Distressed OFWs

Maxxy Santiago, ABS-CBN Middle East News Bureau

DOHA – Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has met with his counterpart in Qatar, Eissa Saad Al-Jaffali Al-Nuaimi, to discuss the welfare and protection of around 240,000 Filipino workers in the Gulf country.

In their meeting, Al-Nuaimi vowed to help in the repatriation of 86 distressed workers now sheltered at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO). The distressed OFWs were mostly victims of abuse, non-payment of salary, and overwork.

Al- Nuaimi thanked Filipino workers in Qatar for their valuable contribution to the country.

Bello also expressed the Philippines’ appreciation to al-Nuaimi for taking care of Filipino workers.

“Maganda ang naging resulta ng pag-uusap namin…We’re working out iyung possible repatriation nila (distressed OFWs) at the soonest possible time,” Bello said.

Al-Nuaimi also informed Bello about the new labor law that led to the abolition of the Kafala or sponsorship system in Qatar, making it easier for workers to transfer to another employer once they have finished their contracts with their current employer.

Aside from this, Qatar also has a new legislation to fast-track labor disputes.

“Meron na raw po itinatayong mga bagong committee in collaboration with the ministry of justice and saka ministry of labor at itong committees na ito kailangan ma-resolve ang labor disputes in 21 days, ito po ang hinahangad natin,” said Qatar labor attaché David Des Dicang.

During their meeting, Bello and Al-Nuaimi also signed the 3rd joint labor committee meeting between the Philippines and Qatar concerning the Filipino manpower employment in the Middle Eastern state. 

The Philippines submitted three proposals to further promote the OFWs’ rights and welfare such as the joint agreement to speed up dispute resolution, harmonized employment contract and shared electronic recruitment agreement processes.

Currently, there are 240,000 OFWs in Qatar, more than half of whom are household service workers while the rest are professionals such as nurses, engineers, accountant, teachers and technical workers.

After the meeting, Bello and his group visited the POLO shelter where he announced the good news to the 86 Filipinos who will be going home soon with the help of the labor minister and other concerned agencies.

(Source: ABS-CBN.com)