By Gabriela Baron
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Saturday, Nov. 19, there is a new opportunity for the Philippines to send more workers to Saudi Arabia with its new massive development plan as it expands its economy.
In a media interview at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, Marcos said Saudi Arabia will need more workers.
“Sinabi ko nga nung after the 1973 oil crisis, the building boom of Saudi Arabia was the one [that] instigated the new surge of OFWs and he immediately stopped me and he said that’s not a building boom, the one that’s coming is the building boom, that’s nothing compared to what we are going to do, so we will need more workers, and so that’s another opportunity for us,” Marcos told reporters.
Marcos and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had a meeting on Friday, Nov. 18, where the two leaders also discussed oil and fertilizer supply.
According to Marcos, he reminded Salman that he was sent by his father, late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to Saudi Arabia in the 1970s to negotiate for the supply of petroleum to the Philippines.
“Sabi niya, well we can discuss it again. So babalikan natin lahat yun,” Marcos said.
“Labor, may mga specifics talaga. Pero sa fuel, oil supply, we touched upon it but we just have to pursue it further. ‘Yung fertilizer mukhang mas madali, baka meron tayong makuha sa kanila,” he pointed out.
On Friday, Marcos announced that the Saudi Arabia government will pay the unpaid salaries of Filipino workers who worked for Saudi construction companies that went bankrupt in 2015 and 2016. -ag
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