THE regional Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE-7) suspended the processing of the Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) for workers bound for four employers placed on its watch list in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Evelia Durato, chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA-7), said they received reports alleging that Mohammad Al Mojil Group (MMG), Mohammad Al Bargash Contracting (MHB Corporation), Saudi Bin Ladin Group (SBG) and Saudi Oger Limited (SOG) don’t pay their workers.
“Considering the recent developments and concerns about the welfare of workers, these employers have been put on the watch list.
For the meantime, we will not process OEC applications of OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) who intend to return to these firms,” Durato said.
Most of these workers are in construction. The same advisory was also issued to the Balik-Manggagawa Assistance Center.
The OEC is a POEA requirement to ensure that OFWs are properly documented.
Durato had no specific figures on the number of workers from Cebu or Central Visayas who work in Saudi Arabia.
Most of the overseas workers there are nurses and other professionals.
Durato said they have no idea when the suspension will be lifted.
She said they also received reports on workers who returned to their provinces in Cebu and Central Visayas.
The POEA received an advisory from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on the suspension in the deployment and processing of OECs for OFWs headed to the Republic of South Sudan due to their tenuous security situation.
The DFA raised the crisis alert level of South Sudan to alert level 4 which means there is either a mandatory repatriation or a total ban on OFW deployment there.