Saudis can't imagine life without Pinoy workers

MARK JOSEPH H. UBALDE, GMANews.TV
06/16/2008

MANILA, Philippines - Muhammad Al-Maghrabi, owner of a flower and gift shop in Jeddah, felt like losing his limbs when his Filipino employees left him and returned to the Philippines.

He valued Filipinos so much that when Al-Maghrabi decided to replace his employees, he again hired Filipinos.

Al-Maghrabi's preference for Filipino workers is not an isolated case in Saudi Arabia. Arab journalist Abdulla Al-Maghlooth says Saudi employers depend so much on overseas Filipino workers (OFW) that living without them would be difficult.

"If Filipinos decided one day to stop working or go on strike for any reason, who would transport oil, food and heavy equipment across the world? We can only imagine the disaster that would happen," Al-Maglooth said in his article, Imagine a world without Filipinos, which appeared on the online news www.arabnews.com on Monday.

Saudi Arabia remains to be the top destination of OFWs, breaching the 1 million mark every year, based on latest government data from the Philippines.

Most Filipinos in the oil-rich kingdom work as engineers, architects, construction workers, and domestic helpers.

Why they like Pinoys

Why do Saudi Arabian employers prefer Filipinos over other foreign workers?

It's because of the Filipinos' fluency in the English language and the "technical training they receive in the early stages of their education," according to Al-Maglooth.

He also took notice of the hundreds of nurses from the Philippines who serve in various countries. "When speaking about the Philippines, we should not forget Filipino nurses. They are some 23 percent of the world's total number of nurses."

The Philippines is home to over 190 accredited nursing colleges and institutes, from which some 9,000 nurses graduate each year, according to Al-Maglooth.

He said many of these Filipino nurses work abroad in countries such as the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Singapore.

He likewise praised the Filipino's way of beginning their education at home with relatives serving as the child's primary trainer and motivator.

He said Filipinos were unlike many Arab children who "reach the university stage without learning anything except boredom."

Pinoy power

While acknowledging that not everyone in the world could exactly locate the Philippines on the map, Al-Maglooth said Filipinos, particularly Filipino workers, have the power to influence the entire world economy.

OFWs have been hailed as modern-day heroes for keeping the Philippine economy afloat for years. The dollars sent home by OFWs might breach a new record level high of $15-billion this year, according to the Labor department.

A report from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said OFW remittances had reached the $4-billion mark in the first quarter of 2008.

Al-Maglooth urged Arab employers to pay respects to Filipino workers, and learn from their valuable experiences.

"We have to remember that we are very much dependent on the Filipinos around us. We could die a slow death if they chose to leave us," he concluded. - GMANews.TV