Saudi Arabia will compen-sate 10,000 Filipino workers who lost their jobs in the Gulf country years ago and are still waiting for their salaries, Philippine offi-cials said.
The announcement came after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Philippine Presi-dent Ferdinand Marcos met Fri-day on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok.
Philippine Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople said the compensation package of two billion riyals ($532 million) would “help our displaced workers”.
It was unclear if unpaid work-ers from other countries would also receive some of the money.
“This is very good news. He (Prince Mohammed) told me this is their gift to us,” Marcos said late Friday.
Saudi Arabia plunged into economic crisis in 2015 following a sharp decline on oil prices, leading construction companies to lay off tens of thousands of foreign workers. More than 700,000 Filipinos work in the kingdom, most of whom are domestic and construction workers, according to latest official data.