MANILA, Philippines – Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today slammed the government’s response to Saudi Arabia’s ban on domestic helpers from the Philippines.
The government is planning to search for new job markets for the domestic helpers who may lose their jobs in Saudi Arabia.
“The Aquino government’s plan of begging other countries to absorb Filipino maids and workers after a deployment in Saudi is despicable,” said KMU secretary-general Roger Soluta in a press statement.
Nicon Fameronag, spokesperson of the Department of Labor and Employment, had said that domestic helpers affected by the Saudi ban can be absorbed by other labor markets such as Hong Kong, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
“The Aquino government is shipping Filipino workers from one graveyard to another,” Soluta added. “Instead of bringing Filipino maids and workers back home and providing them with decent jobs, the Aquino government merely plans to ship them to other countries.”
He also said that the government does not have a long-term plan of providing decent employment to Filipinos in the country.
“The Aquino government just made the employment situation in the country even worse,” Soluta said.
Soluta added that the government needs to develop the country’s industries and implement a genuine agrarian reform program in order to provide decent employment for the Filipinos.
He also called on the government to junk labor policies that “keep the government begging other countries and keep the Filipinos in dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs.”
