Panay, Guimaras OFWs favor Saudi
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is still the most favored destination of overseas land-based workers from the provinces of Iloilo, Aklan, Antique, Capiz and Guimaras in 2007, said the regional extension unit of the Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration (POEA) based here in this city.
POEA 6 Officer-in-Charge Rhea Glynda Calantas said aside from KSA, the other favored destinations of land-based workers in these provinces are other Middle East countries like Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Also, countries like Hongkong, Singapore, Taiwan and United Kingdom were included among the favored country of destinations last year.
Calantas said KSA remains to be the top destination because of the demand of workers in various job categories in this country such as medical, skilled and professional workers.
"Aside from that, overseas workers prefer to work in KSA because of better privileges it offers as compared to other host countries," said Calantas.
For 2007, based on the record of POEA 6 the number of contract processed for land-based workers coming from Panay and Guimaras Island reached 12,855.
The same record showed that most of the contracts processed were in the months of May with 1,421, April, 1,385 and January 1,365.
The large number of contracts processed in the months of May, April and January could be attributed to the bulk of rehired returning OFWs who went home for graduation and holiday season.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) report indicated that land-based workers who left the country in 2007 reached 809,740 while overseas Filipino seafarers around 263,662. All in all, last year there are 1.073 million documented OFW who have been productively deployed in more than 190 host destinations worldwide. (PIA)