AMMAN — President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs to fix the problems of undocumented Filipino workers here as part of his promise to improve the plight of Filipinos in the Middle East.
Duterte said the issue of undocumented workers was one of the topics discussed during his meeting with King Abdullah II last Thursday.
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"We had a lengthy discussion about you, all of you. We talked about the undocumented Filipinos here," the president said during his meeting with the Filipino community last Friday.
"I will try to find a solution, there are a lot of them. The undocumented Filipinos. That's why their children have not returned home. So I hope to work on it right away," he added.
Duterte expressed hope that the government would be able to "work out something at the earliest possible time."
"I will send maybe...Secretary Cayetano to fix this thing," he said.
There are about 48,000 overseas Filipino workers here in Jordan. The government has been repatriating stranded and undocumented Filipino workers from Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates.
Duterte said his administration is negotiating with other countries to improve the working conditions of overseas Filipino workers. He said Philippine officials have requested that Filipino workers be allowed to cook their food, given Internet access and keep their passports.
The president also reminded the Filipino workers to follow the laws in their host countries.
Duterte heaped praises on King Abdullah before the Filipino community, describing him as a "very good guy" and "a man of his words."
"He (King Abdullah) is sincere. So I have nothing but praises for him. He has a human soul," the president said.
"He is one of the rare persons I've seen that walks the talk. You can see the human spirit in his words."