About 20 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) of an unnamed company have resorted to selling their blood in order to send money home to their families in the Philippines, according to a report in ABS-CBN News.
Over 200 OFWs are asking the Philippine government to help them come home after their company, which was not named in the report, allegedly started having problems with their projects.
According to a report in ABS-CBN News, they have been without a monthly salary for six months.
“We can put up with the hardships here, but our families in the Philippines, we can’t let them suffer,” one stranded OFW said.
According to the report, the OFWs could sell blood for PHP4,000 (US$80) to PHP 5,000 (US$90) per bag.
The Philippine consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said they are engaging in dialogue with the company to provide assistance for the stranded OFWs.
“We are consistently following up with the management and demanding that they pay for the repatriation of the OFWs immediately,” the consulate’s welfare officer said in Tagalog.
Government officials said that of the 279 who are stranded in Jeddah, 63 have been given a ticket and clearance to return to the Philippines and are scheduled to leave this Sunday.
Resorting to selling blood may be out of the ordinary, but it’s not the first time OFWs in Saudi Arabia have done this to send money back home.
Similar cases of selling blood were reported in Riyadh and Jeddah in 2011 and 2016.
According to latest government data, at least 26 percent of the 2.2 million OFWs around the world work in Saudi Arabia.
The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte stepped up its efforts in protecting OFWs in the Middle East after a domestic helper was found tortured and murdered in Kuwait in February, prompting a ban on all deployment of laborers to the country.
Last week, the Philippine government laid out demands to Kuwait for better protections for OFWs before they consider lifting the ban.
Earlier this month, it was also found that some employers in Saudi Arabia hold maid auctions and illegally auction-off Filipino domestic workers that work for them.
with a report from ABS-CBN News
