Help OFWs in Qatar – Hontiveros

SEN. Risa Hontiveros on Thursday urged the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to assist distressed Filipinos in Qatar whose contracts have ended but have yet to receive their end-of-service benefits.

The senator brought up the complaints of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) during the budget deliberation on the 2025 budget of DMW.

She learned of their plight during her visit to Qatar last month. The concerned OFWs said some companies and sponsors are hesitant to release workers' end-of-service benefits.

These companies "may also charge their workers with absconding or fleeing which could disqualify them from receiving end-of-service benefits and get them deported," Hontiveros said.

"As OFWs fear that their employers might get back at them, they no longer file complaints so they can claim their end-of-service benefits," Hontiveros said.

She also said that distressed male OFWs "do not have temporary shelters to stay at as they wait for their labor complaints to be resolved unlike their female counterparts."

In response, the DMW, through its budget sponsor Sen. Joel Villanueva, said that it has provided financial assistance to OFWs to claim their end-of-service benefits and committed to assist migrant workers in filing and resolving their claims.

The DMW also said that the Qatar Ministry of Labor has committed to implementing a standard employment contract for household service workers, which stipulates a standard salary rate and other benefits.

"We hail our OFWs as new heroes. But it does not mean that they should become martyrs and endure the hardship [in getting the benefits that they deserve]," Hontiveros said in Filipino.

"It is just right that the DMW extends all the help that it can give to these distressed migrant workers so they can receive all the benefits that they are entitled to," Hontiveros said.