MANILA — Saudi Arabia is among the 32 countries considered safe for overseas Filipino workers, the migrant workers agency in the Philippines has announced. The categorization came after the 32 countries passed the mandatory certification process of the amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act or Republic Act (RA) 10022. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) issued the list of compliant countries, including partially-compliant, without prejudice to negotiations for the protection of the rights of household service workers and/or other categories of workers. The certified countries include Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Botswana, China, Dominican Republic, Timor Leste, Iran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, the Maldives, Micronesia, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Serbia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Syria, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Zambia. Deployment of OFWs in non-compliant countries is not allowed.
Section 3 of RA 10022 states that the Philippine government will only allow deployment if the host country “has existing labor and social laws protecting the rights of workers; is a signatory to and/or a ratifier of multilateral conventions, declarations or resolutions relating to the protection of workers; and has concluded a bilateral agreement or arrangement with the government on the protection of the rights of OFWs.”
The countries were identified as either compliant or non-compliant based on the certifications of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the different Philippine posts in host countries. The latest batch brings to 188 the countries found to be safe destinations for OFWs by the POEA.
The Kingdom continues to be the leading destination of OFWs with 22.6 percent of the total Filipinos working across the world. — SG/Agencies
