More than a hundred Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are now waiting to be repatriated after losing their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on their narrative, they were not compensated for more than five months and were only housed in one accommodation with other nationalities. There was one Filipino who also tested positive for COVID-19.
The stranded OFWs are now requesting to be included in the next chartered flight. They worked in a manpower agency with more than 600 Filipino contract workers but were all retrenched. Last August 18, 354 OFWs aboard a chartered plane were brought home. The repatriated OFWs immediately underwent OWWA briefing prior to swab testing and were given accommodation while waiting for test results.
