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By Anna Valmero
PASAY CITY, METRO MANILA— Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia expressed anxiety over the upcoming implementation of the “Saudization” program, under which foreign workers who have worked there for six years or more will no longer be issued working permits.
Susan Ople, founder of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and former labor undersecretary, said her non-profit organization has been receiving “frantic messages from OFWs based in Saudi Arabia and their relatives here in the Philippines about the Nitaqat system.”
The Nitaqat system was set up to determine the percentage of Saudi workers in a private company.
All Saudi firms are urged to comply with the Nitaqat system by September 10 as part of its efforts to prioritize hiring of Saudi nationals and to reduce unemployment in the country.
Some 90 percent of the workforce in Saudi Arabia is comprised of foreign workers.
“With this three-month deadline, the Saudi government will indeed proceed with its Saudization program. Now, the anxiety among our OFWs begins,” Ople said.
Ople urged OFWs and their families to educate themselves about the Saudization program to understand if their contracts will be renewed or it is time to look for jobs in other countries.
In brief, the Nitaqat system issued by the Ministry of Labor in Saudi classified companies into green, yellow and red based on the ratio of Saudi nationals to foreign workers. (For more information, visit the Ministry of Labor website.)
Companies in Saudi, both local and foreign, will be classified as “green,” if the company complies the minimum ten percent of the total numbers of staff hired are Saudis; “yellow” if it employed Saudi below 10 percent, and “red” if the company does not employ any single local Saudi.
A six-year cap on working permit is imposed on all foreign workers in a yellow company and it should hire more Saudi company within nine months. Foreign workers in a “red” company will not be renewed of their working permits.
The Nitaqat system does not cover household service workers. However, Ministry of Labor ordered all retail shops to hire Saudi women instead of foreigners.
Migrante Middle East regional coordinator John Monterona said around 350,000 of the total 1.2 million OFWs in Saudi will be affected once the Nitaqat scheme is fully implemented. This early, 12 Filipino engineers were terminated by a consultancy firm with 50 percent of its total staff composed of OFWs.
He cited for instance a consultancy firm that hires more than 50% of its staff are Filipinos had recently terminated 12 Filipino engineers and more to follow in its bid to categorize the company to “green” from “yellow.”
OFWs are the fourth largest segment of workers in Saudi, following Pakistanis, Indians and Egyptians, each numbering to 1.8 million, 1.5 million and 1.3 million respectively, Monterona said.
Reintegration programs should be in place to cushion the impact of the Saudization program, Monterona added.
“The Aquino government should ready its reintegration and jobs transfer program as it will be facing hundreds of terminated OFWs coming home as an effect of the shrinking of the labor market in Saudi and other mid-east countries as millions of Arab peoples are jobless and demanding jobs from their governments,” Monterona said.
Meanwhile, Labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that Saudization is “not a problem” since OFWs could go to other markets abroad such as UAE, Dubai and other countries.
She is confident that not a significant portion of OFWs employed in Saudi will be jobless since their skills are in demand in other countries as well.
Baldoz added that returning OFWs can avail of the OFW reintegration program for OFWs, under which OFWs can loan P300,000 to P2 million to become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses in the country.
By doing so, they will be contributing more to the local economy and help infuse money in their local communities, Baldoz added.
During its launch on June, eleven OFWs have availed of the program such as Edgardo Paz Almerio who returned home from Libya last March.
OFW families can attend a public forum on Saudization on June 24 at the Midas Hotel in Manila.
PASAY CITY, METRO MANILA— Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia expressed anxiety over the upcoming implementation of the “Saudization” program, under which foreign workers who have worked there for six years or more will no longer be issued working permits.
Susan Ople, founder of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and former labor undersecretary, said her non-profit organization has been receiving “frantic messages from OFWs based in Saudi Arabia and their relatives here in the Philippines about the Nitaqat system.”
The Nitaqat system was set up to determine the percentage of Saudi workers in a private company.
All Saudi firms are urged to comply with the Nitaqat system by September 10 as part of its efforts to prioritize hiring of Saudi nationals and to reduce unemployment in the country.
Some 90 percent of the workforce in Saudi Arabia is comprised of foreign workers.
“With this three-month deadline, the Saudi government will indeed proceed with its Saudization program. Now, the anxiety among our OFWs begins,” Ople said.
Ople urged OFWs and their families to educate themselves about the Saudization program to understand if their contracts will be renewed or it is time to look for jobs in other countries.
In brief, the Nitaqat system issued by the Ministry of Labor in Saudi classified companies into green, yellow and red based on the ratio of Saudi nationals to foreign workers. (For more information, visit the Ministry of Labor website.)
Companies in Saudi, both local and foreign, will be classified as “green,” if the company complies the minimum ten percent of the total numbers of staff hired are Saudis; “yellow” if it employed Saudi below 10 percent, and “red” if the company does not employ any single local Saudi.
A six-year cap on working permit is imposed on all foreign workers in a yellow company and it should hire more Saudi company within nine months. Foreign workers in a “red” company will not be renewed of their working permits.
The Nitaqat system does not cover household service workers. However, Ministry of Labor ordered all retail shops to hire Saudi women instead of foreigners.
Migrante Middle East regional coordinator John Monterona said around 350,000 of the total 1.2 million OFWs in Saudi will be affected once the Nitaqat scheme is fully implemented. This early, 12 Filipino engineers were terminated by a consultancy firm with 50 percent of its total staff composed of OFWs.
He cited for instance a consultancy firm that hires more than 50% of its staff are Filipinos had recently terminated 12 Filipino engineers and more to follow in its bid to categorize the company to “green” from “yellow.”
OFWs are the fourth largest segment of workers in Saudi, following Pakistanis, Indians and Egyptians, each numbering to 1.8 million, 1.5 million and 1.3 million respectively, Monterona said.
Reintegration programs should be in place to cushion the impact of the Saudization program, Monterona added.
“The Aquino government should ready its reintegration and jobs transfer program as it will be facing hundreds of terminated OFWs coming home as an effect of the shrinking of the labor market in Saudi and other mid-east countries as millions of Arab peoples are jobless and demanding jobs from their governments,” Monterona said.
Meanwhile, Labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that Saudization is “not a problem” since OFWs could go to other markets abroad such as UAE, Dubai and other countries.
She is confident that not a significant portion of OFWs employed in Saudi will be jobless since their skills are in demand in other countries as well.
Baldoz added that returning OFWs can avail of the OFW reintegration program for OFWs, under which OFWs can loan P300,000 to P2 million to become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses in the country.
By doing so, they will be contributing more to the local economy and help infuse money in their local communities, Baldoz added.
During its launch on June, eleven OFWs have availed of the program such as Edgardo Paz Almerio who returned home from Libya last March.
OFW families can attend a public forum on Saudization on June 24 at the Midas Hotel in Manila.
