RIYADH: Labor Attache Alex A. Padaen of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Jeddah (POLO-Jeddah) announced on Saturday that seminars are currently being held for stranded female Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) at the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC).
“These seminars are being conducted so that they have something to fall back on when they are finally repatriated to the Philippines. They could use the knowledge they learn to earn a living once they are home,” Padaen told Arab News.
There are 36 female wards at the FWRC at present. They escaped from their sponsors for various reasons like maltreatment, non-payment of salaries, among others.
Padaen said the courses include “sewing clothes which are a basic need.” “This course is important because clothes-- like food— are among man’s basic needs. It could be their lifeblood later if they don’t intend to work in other countries again,” Padaen said. He added that there’s also a module for care-giving which is very much in demand in other countries like Israel, Canada and the United States.
“Care-giving is a job that has carved a niche in the labor market. It answers a basic need, like good health. We hope that the wards at the FWRC won’t look down on it because it’s a job that’s very much in demand,” he said.
Padaen also called on all OFWs in the Western Province to stay out of trouble and obey the laws and regulations of the Kingdom where some 278,000 Filipinos work.
He added that they should make their stay in the Kingdom as meaningful as possible for them and their families in the Philippines.
Padaen added that if they have problems as far as their work is concerned, they should not hesitate to call the POLO in Jeddah to seek help.
He said that OFWs sometime get into trouble because they might have forgotten the pre-departure orientation (PDOs) seminar they attended as part of the requirements so that that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) would process their papers to work overseas.
” The PDOs is very important and yet many OFWs may no longer remember it. That’s why during speaking invitations, I take the opportunity to discuss with them what they should know and do now that they are already working in the Kingdom,” he said.
Padaen replaced Vicente Cabe who had been cross-posted to Singapore.
Stranded OFWs undergo livelihood training
