Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has downplayed reports on overseas Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia who resorted to selling their own blood in exchange of a small amount of money.
“May mga kababayan talaga tayo na gusto nila ang kinikita nila doon sa kanilang trabaho pinapadala nila sa kanilang pamilya, ngayon yung mga para sa mga lakad nila gusto nilang mag inuman ganun, gusto nila, may lakad sila, ang ginagawa nila nagbebenta na lang sila ng dugo,” Bello was quoted as saying by Rappler.
Earlier, Bello admitted in a GMA News interview that the same Filipino workers in the Kingdom have sold their blood just to buy food.
“Ganyan mga ugali nating mga Pilipino, we are willing to sacrifice anything para lang sa ating pamilya, in fact even dito sa Maynila, may nag-gagawa ng ganyan pag gustong uminim, nagbebenta ng dugo, pero ganun talaga ang situation dun and isolated naman yan,” he said.
He also downplayed reports that some OFWs in Saudi Arabia were scavenging for food, saying that what the Filipinos were doing were getting food items rejected by grocery stores.
