“This has brought to 14 the number of Filipino workers of Afras who have been repatriated by the POLO,” a POLO official told Arab News on Friday.

The labor welfare arm of the Philippine Embassy repatriated 10 Filipino workers last week after prolonged negotiations with the Afras  management.

The 14 workers were part of a group of 39 Filipinos who had earlier absconded and sought the help of POLO.

They ran away due to what they said were bad working conditions and contract substitution — the practice of replacing contracts signed in the Philippines by recruiters there with new ones that offer lower wages after arriving in the Kingdom. Ostensibly, the local recruiting agents are supposed to honor the contract signed in the Philippines.

This practice affects Filipino workers because they are required by their government to sign contracts that guarantee a mandated minimum wage of $400 a month (SR1,502) before they are granted clearance to work abroad.

Many of these workers were not fit for the jobs to which they had been reassigned. They were working in various projects of the company all over the Kingdom but were later reassigned to a project in Al-Kharj outside Riyadh. It is illegal for a foreign worker in Saudi Arabia to perform a job other than the one stated on his or her iqama (residency permit).

To solve the problem, POLO called officials of the two recruitment agencies in Manila, AISIS and Al-Ahram, telling them that it was better to settle the cases amicably.

“We told the two agencies that settling the cases amicably would be the best solution to the problem. It would keep them from being blacklisted by the POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration) and the stranded workers could go back to their families,” he said.

POLO officials also talked to the Saudi-based representative of the two agencies and they agreed to pay for the workers' plane tickets.

“Then we talked with Afras officials who agreed to issue exit visas as long as the OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) pay SR1,000 each,” he said.

He added that the POLO is working on the repatriation of the remaining 25 workers.

Asked about the problem why they could not be repatriated like the others who had gone home, he said that many of them “still have pending cases.”