The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is looking into the veracity of a report alleging that some Filipino household service workers (HSWs) have been maltreated by their employers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Labor and Employment Secretary Marianito D. Roque said there was no mention of the real name of the HSW cited in the report. However, he instructed Riyadh-based Labor Attache Rustico dela Fuente to determine which particular case the report was referring to.

Roque also took the opportunity to call on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families to contact the nearest Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) or the DOLE and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in the Philippines for assistance in all cases of abuse and exploitation that the OFWs may encounter in the hands of their employers onsite.

He asked the OFWs’ families, in case their kin suffer abuses in their jobs abroad, to contact and coordinate with DOLE and OWWA rather than with certain groups which apparently are just using complaints against OFW abuses and exploitation to advance their propaganda and vested interests.

Distressed OFWs onsite must also immediately contact the nearest POLO for assistance, Roque said.

Seeking other groups would only delay assistance as these groups will also refer the cases of distressed OFWs to DOLE and OWWA, he said adding that it will be more beneficial to OFWs and their kin to directly contact the two agencies for needed assistance.

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