Nearly 81,000 Filipinos in Dubai and Northern Emirates have faced a job loss or cash crunch, said a senior Philippine official.
The estimate is based on the numbers of Filipinos in the emirate who have applied for the one-time financial assistance offered by the Manila government, the Philippine Consul General, Paul Raymond revealed to the media yesterday.
Referring to the data from the Manila Labour Department, the diplomat said that the number of applicants is a good indicator, but the actual numbers may be less by 10 percent.
“With the cash aid, offered by Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE), we are looking at 90,000 (Filipinos who faced job losses in Dubai and Northern Emirates). Perhaps count some double submissions or those who were not really laid off or furloughed, perhaps some 10%, which makes 80,000 to 81,000 thereabouts.” he said.
The count for Abu Dhabi-based Filipinos is taken separately. An approximate of one million Filipino expatriates lost their livelihood due to the global coronavirus contagion, the Manila officials said.
As per current reports, there are over 23,000 job losses among Filipino workers in Kuwait.
On 3rd July, about 72,000 overseas Filipinos have been repatriated by the Manila government, the Labour Secretary, Silvestre Bello told Philippine media.
All overseas Filipino workers who lost their jobs across the world were given a one-time Covid-19 pandemic-related $200 cash aid by the Duterte government.
As of April 2020, the “Help Within Reach” programme listed 74,050 overseas Filipino workers across the UAE, who were either under the ‘no work no pay’ status or were either terminated from work.
A separate count for Abu Dhabi-based Filipinos shows that an estimate of one million Filipino expats lost their livelihood due to the covid-19 pandemic, as per reports by the Manila officials.
Filipinos in the Middle East live and work in nine countries including Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Libya, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Other beneficiaries under the ‘Help within reach’ programme were identified in Brunei, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, Malaysia and New Zealand. Applicants were also listed in the Americas and the Europe.
The Filipino applicants in the UAE must download the AKAP or ‘Help within reach’ programme form and submit documents online to the concerned Philippine Overseas Labour Office in Abu Dhabi and POLO-Dubai.
