Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has met 116 Filipino workers flown back from Kuwait to Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Duterte told the repatriated overseas workers on Tuesday that they will be given assistance by the government and provided with employment opportunities, Arab News reported.
“We are here to see to it that every Filipino is treated decently,” Duterte said.
The 116 workers each received 15,000 pesos and grocery bags provided by the government, Business Mirror reported.
After issuing a total deployment ban on Filipinos working in Kuwait, the Philippine government is considering China, Oman and Bahrain as alternate places where citizens can work abroad.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the government’s infrastructure program can also provide job opportunities for workers who have to return home.
“Under the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program, we are hoping that we can have more jobs. Work is available not only for men, but also for women,” Roque said.
Roque said the president would prefer that Filipinos don’t leave the country just to work. “The only way for us to attain this is for them to be given jobs here in the Philippines,” he said.