“The two sides agreed to sign an agreement on the resumption of the deployment of new Filipino household workers to Saudi Arabia. However, we have not yet received an official notice regarding it,” Philippine Ambassador Ezzedin H. Tago told Arab News.
Tago was reacting to a news item in a Philippine national daily quoting Labor Undersecretary Danilo Cruz who said in a press conference that Saudi Arabia would lift within the month the suspension it imposed in 2011 on the hiring of new Filipino maids.
Cruz was also quoted as saying the breakthrough resulted from a meeting in Manila last week between a technical working group consisting of representatives from the Philippine labor department and the Saudi Embassy in Manila.
The two sides had met in Manila in April to discuss the issue.
The Kingdom suspended last March the processing of employment contracts for new Filipino maids after complaining about the Philippines’ requirement that Saudi employers submit a sketch of their homes and disclose their annual income.
The Kingdom did not also agree to the Philippine requirement of $400 as a minimum salary for maids and other household workers. It wanted the amount reduced to $210, which the Philippines turned down.
The Philippine labor department set the minimum monthly salary for household workers in 2006 and wanted to upgrade the status of Filipino maids while at the same time reducing the deployment of such workers.
