Manila: The labour department wants Russia to open up its market to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), thousands of whom lost their jobs in oil companies in the Middle East, a senior official said.
“We noticed there is a decline in the demand for overseas workers [in Saudi Arabia] due to the collapse in the price of oil... Russia may be a good alternative market for them since workers there are well paid,” said Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello.
“I already sent a memo to the President requesting him to include the possible deployment of skilled and professional workers to Russia,” Bello said, adding that Russia has a huge demand for professionals, house helpers and construction workers.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Monday in preparation for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to Russia next year, said Manila’s foreign affairs office. They agreed to enhance cooperation on cultural, economic, political, security, and people-to-people spheres, said the foreign affairs office.
Duterte and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the sidelines of leaders’ summit of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Lima, Peru, in late November.
In 2014, there were 4,000 OFWs in Russia’s construction, household service and hotel industries.
Since July, 11,000 OFWs remained stranded after they lost their jobs from companies that declared bankruptcy in Saudi Arabia.
There are 10 million OFWs based worldwide who send between $26-$30 billion (Dh94.5-Dh110.2 billion) in remittances to the Philippines every year.
