Augmentation teams to help distressed OFWs arrive

RIYADH: Several Philippine government officials have arrived in the Kingdom as part of the augmentation teams for the visit of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello lll, who is scheduled to arrive in Riyadh on Tuesday morning.
On Thursday, he is scheduled to go to Jeddah where there are also Filipino workers with labor problems.
An official at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Jeddah (POLO-Jeddah) said that 11,000 distressed Filipinos are due to receive assistance, and of the number, 1,600 had already received SR1,590 each.
“The amount is from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) which released P500,000 million for distressed Filipino workers,” the official said on condition that he not be named.
The officials comprising the augmentation teams come from the departments of health, social welfare and development, the Public Attorneys’ Office (PAO), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA), among others.
“Some of them have served Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom before like Labor Attaché Manuel Roldan and Vicente Cabe,” another POLO official in Jeddah said.
Roldan, whose last posting was in Hong Kong, served at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh, while Cabe served at the POLO in Jeddah.
“They will be around in case Secretary Bello needs their help as he participates in talks to solve the problems involving distressed Filipinos in the Kingdom,” a Filipino labor official in Alkhobar said when asked about the reasons for sending augmentation teams to the Kingdom. The augmentation team in Riyadh includes 22 officials; in Jeddah, 8; and Alkhobar, 16. Ambassador Ricardo M. Endaya, who had earlier served as the country’s head of mission in Iraq and Kuwait, is the augmentation team head in Alkhobar.
Bello’s visit comes in the wake of Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Salman’s directive for immediate attention to problems faced by Overseas Filipino Worker (OFWs).
Other officials comprising the augmentation teams include Atty. Joel Masurong from PAO, Atty. Rosemary Duquez (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration), Director Teodoro Gatchalian and Neal Santioque (TESDA), and Welfare Officers Benny Reyes, Amenito Adel, and Rachel Llagas Kunting, among others.