President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said Filipino workers would have new opportunities to work in Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom pushes its new massive development plan and expands its economy.
Marcos said this in a media interview at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, November 19.
According to Marcos, Saudi Arabia's building boom will need more workers.
"After the 1973 oil crisis, the building boom of Saudi Arabia was the one instigated the new surge of OFWs, and he immediately stopped me, and he said, 'That's not a building boom, the one that's coming is the building boom. That's nothing compared to what we are going to do, so we will need more workers,'" Marcos told reporters.
The President was referring to Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohamed bin Salman whom he had a bilateral meeting on Friday.
"That's another opportunity for us," he added.
The President said they also talked about oil and fertilizer supply.
He reminded the Saudi crown prince and Prime Minister that he was sent by his father, the late president Ferdinand Marcos, to Saudi Arabia in the 1970s to negotiate for the supply of petroleum to the Philippines.
"Sabi niya (He said), well, we can discuss it again. So babalikan natin lahat yun (we will revisit that)," said the President.
Marcos said he and the Saudi royalty also talked about labor, fuel, and oil supply.
"We touched upon it, but we just have to pursue it further. Yung fertilizer mukhang mas madali, baka meron tayong makuha sa kanila (The fertilizer seems easier, we might get some from them)," he said.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) announced on Friday that the Saudi Arabia government would pay the unpaid salaries of Filipino workers who worked for Saudi construction companies that went bankrupt in 2015 and 2016.