Philippine and Saudi officials held talks here Wednesday on protecting the rights of Filipino workers and Saudi employers in the Kingdom.

The talks took place between Philippine Ambassador Ezzedin H. Tago and Saudi Human Rights Commission President Bandar Al-Aiban in his office in the capital. Al-Aiban conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims of super typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines recently. King Abdullah has donated $10 million for the victims.

Tago congratulated the Kingdom on its recent election to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Tago and Al-Aiban said they would work together to ensure Filipinos coming to Saudi Arabia are aware of their rights and obligations. They also discussed ways to spread important information on Saudi Arabia, its culture, laws and regulations to Filipino workers before they arrive in the Kingdom.

They agreed to continue tackling human trafficking, including cases where workers are brought to the Kingdom from neighboring states on entry visas not appropriate for their stay.

Tago and Al-Aiban said a positive step taken to protect the rights of workers and employers was the recent signing of a bilateral memorandum of understanding on the hiring of domestic workers.

Tago praised the Kingdom for adopting the regulations on household workers and looked forward to its full implementation.

He also thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for allowing expatriates to correct their status. He said Saudi Ministry of Labor statistics showed that 53,330 Filipinos changed sponsors and 104,364 changed their professions.