The government is tight-lipped on whether the repatriated workers will be given jobs upon arrival
A Saudi Navy sailor assists people evacuated from Sudan upon their arrival at King Faisal Navy base in Jeddah on April 26. (Photo: AFP)
Hundreds of Filipino workers are reportedly forced to stay back in conflict-hit Sudan due to a lack of job opportunities in the Southeast Asian nation.
The Philippines has evacuated 409 workers while more than 300 are on their way home after the warring factions in Sudan agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia on April 24, which has helped countries evacuate their citizens.
"My father who works as a nurse in Sudan was told there is no job for him here in the Philippines. So he has refused to return despite government efforts to repatriate him," Wilberto Casals, 34, told UCA News.
Casals said his father had waited for almost three years before he could find a job with higher pay.
“He worked in a public hospital for a meager salary while waiting for a job that would give him a higher pay. It was his stepping stone but the conflict broke out all of a sudden in Sudan,” he added.
Rosalinda Belmonte, 43, a mother of two, told UCA News that her husband, Rafael, was still hoping that the situation will improve in the African nation.
"My husband isn't thinking of leaving because our children are studying in college. If he comes home, one of them will likely have to stop going to college because we won't be able to afford the expenses even if both of us work in the Philippines," Belmonte explained.
The Philippines government remains tight-lipped on whether the repatriated workers will be given jobs upon arrival.
“So far, we have only promised to give temporary jobs in Saudi Arabia to Filipinos who have reached safe zones. But to those who were repatriated, we still cannot commit,” Jennifer Garlena, legal officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs, told UCA News.
Garlena clarified that the department was implementing voluntary repatriation for Filipino workers in Sudan.
“Since it [repatriation] is voluntary, there are still hundreds of Filipinos who have decided to stay. But we will not deny help to those who have already decided to come to the Philippines or to stay in our safe zones in Egypt,” she added.
The foreign affairs department earlier said that its primary consideration was the safety of all Filipino workers.
Every Filipino evacuated from Sudan would receive US$200 each, President Ferdinand Marcos said in a press conference on April 26.
Earlier, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said on April 25 that it was ready to help the repatriated Filipino workers.
“Our doors are always open to help," Bishop Ruperto Santos, chairperson of the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, told CBCP News.
"There are programs and plans in the dioceses to help Filipinos who have been repatriated," Bishop Santos added.
Catholic charities are also offering help.
“Our group has decided to lend money at low-interest rates. There is constant monitoring of how they will spend it until they could return it back so that others can also benefit,” a social worker in Palo Archdiocese in Leyte province, told UCA News.
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