MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) announced on Thursday, December 5, that Saudi Arabia is now accepting job orders from the Philippines for residential support workers—helpers who are no longer required to live with their employers.

The DMW released Memorandum Circular No. 5, which outlined the guidelines for the job orders for residential support workers. 

“Ang residential support worker ay hindi maninirahan, hindi titira sa kanilang employer na pinagsisilbihan at sila rin ay magkakaroon ng sitwasyon na various employers, hindi isa lamang ang kanilang employers,” DMW Undersecretary Felicitas Bay said in a press conference. 

(The residential support worker will not live with the employer they work for, and they do not have just one employer.)  

Bay explained that residential support workers will not be the one to take care of children, and they will focus on cleaning in the household.

Interested overseas Filipino workers (OFW) will answer directly to the mega recruitment companies, according to the DMW. Their accommodation will be handled by the recruitment agency.

On top of no longer needing to stay in with their employers, a key difference between a domestic worker and a residential support worker is that their visas are not the same.

Residential support workers will have a skill visa or a labor visa, instead of a domestic worker visa. 

OFWs who enter Saudi Arabia as residential support workers will have a basic monthly salary of SAR 1,800 or P27,790.65, with an additional SAR 500 or around P7,719.62. 

Under the current contract, residential support workers will have eight hours of work, and they are entitled to an overtime pay of 150% of the basic hourly pay for work beyond regular working hours. 

For work on rest days or holidays, residential support workers will get 200% of their pay. 

Under the contract, residential support workers are mandated to have at least 24 consecutives hours of rest per week. They must also have 21 days of paid vacation leave per year. 

In accordance with Saudi Arabian labor laws, workers are also entitled to a return ticket to their point of origin every two years. 

OFW residential support workers will also be provided with free return transportation to their home countries in case of contract completion, termination of the contract of the employer without just cause, force majeure, and inability to keep working due to illness or injury. 

DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said this development came to diversify the kind of work available to OFWs. 

She was accompanied by former senator Bam Aquino, who served as her campaign manager during the 2022 presidential race, which saw Marcos winning by landslide with more than 31 million votes. Robredo was Marcos’ closest rival during that election, garnering more than 15 million votes.

“Lalo na ang makakapag-protect ng mga kababaihan nating OFW (Especially those that will protect our female OFWs),” Cacdac said. 

In Augustezwin, the deaths of two OFWs in Saudi Arabia were publicized. The families of the two OFWs sought help from the government to probe their deaths. Both of them allegedly received mistreatment from their respective employers. 

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