The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is pushing for a shorter employment contract for the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) once the redeployment of Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia resumes on Nov. 7 this year.
DMW Secretary Susan Ople said this is one of the issues she raised during the bilateral talk with the Saudi labor officials.
From two years, the contracts will be for one year with a provision of extension, depending on the consensus of the worker and employer.
"This was taken into consideration during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on combatting trafficking in persons, investigating, and prosecuting offenders, and providing support to OFW victims of trafficking in persons," said Ople.
She explained that the long year of contracts of OFWs make them more vulnerable to abuse since they had a lock-in contract of two years.
Citing experience, Ople said long contracts led to many cases of runaway OFWs seeking shelter at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh.
The DMW also took into consideration the promotion of deploying quality workers to prevent cases of maltreatment, labor abuse, and runaway workers.
“During those pioneering days of overseas employment, you needed, and we provided the best-skilled workers to build cities and structures where there was none. Today, we are here once again to help, as Saudi Arabia pursues its Vision 2030, where you have started to build new cities in pursuit of global competitiveness in various fields,” said Ople.
For its part, the Saudi Labor Ministry has committed to reviewing the proposal to reduce the contract of OFWs working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
The second phase of bilateral talk agreed to resume in December with the convening of a Joint Committee Meeting (JCM) to be held in Riyadh.
According to DMW, the agenda includes the review of wages for domestic workers and KSA's response to the Philippines' proposal for a shorter contract for OFWs.