THE DEPARTMENT of Migrant Workers (DMW) issued a warning on Monday against individuals pretending to be middlemen in the compensation process for unpaid salaries of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia.
DMW Secretary Maria Susan V. Ople said they have also received reports of people impersonating department officers who contacted OFWs online about the promised settlement.
“We urge the public and media to report these individuals to us since we do not tolerate this disinformation to hijack the good news from our president’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia,” she said at a livestreamed press briefing.
Ms. Ople assured the claimants that there are no middlemen in the compensation process as the DMW and Foreign Affairs department are directly consulting with officials from Saudi Arabia.
In a statement on Nov. 18, Ms. Ople said the Saudi government promised President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. that it would settle the unpaid salaries of Filipino workers in their country.
The promise was made during bilateral talks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Bangkok, Thailand.
DMW Undersecretary Patricia Yvonne M. Caunan told the same briefing the agency was set to meet with officials from Saudi Arabia late Monday to discuss the process of distributing the unpaid salaries.
“We will assure a smooth and transparent consultative process between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia,” Ms. Ople said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez