Manila, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has spent P10 million to successfully repatriate hundreds of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) housed in a temporary shelter facility in a seaport terminal in Saudi Arabia after fleeing their employers because of labor malpractice.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in a recent report that the labor department was able to bring back all of the 698 OFWs, with their 137 children from the Hajj Seaport Terminal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to the Philippines.

“Our Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Jeddah had reported that as of September 1, there is not a single Filipino national remaining in the Hajj Seaport Terminal,” Baldoz said in a statement.

The P10 million used to fast-track the repatriation of the OFWs from Saudi Arabia is part of the P50-million repatriation fund allocated by Congress last year.

“The Philippines is only one of two countries in Saudi Arabia that shoulders the repatriation tickets of its overstaying nationals and assists them during their tedious process of repatriation,” Baldoz said.

The Seaport Hajj Terminal was assigned by the Saudi Arabian government to house Filipino and Egyptian deportees before they could be repatriated by their respected country. Migrant Filipino workers, who stayed in the facility, were cared for by the POLO.

“This is the place where overstaying foreigners, including Filipinos, who surrender for voluntary deportation, are brought,” Baldoz said.

DoLE started repatriating OFWs from the Hajj seaport on July 10 until August 31.

Baldoz made the statement amid reports that OFWs at an unidentified detention facility were being maltreated at that they received no assistance from the POLO and Philippine Embassy in the Saudi Arabia.