Bahrain has recorded the highest number of Filipino workers requesting government-assisted repatriation among all Middle East posts, with 278 as of March 4 — more than Abu Dhabi’s 246 and Dubai’s 231. It was against this backdrop of mounting desperation that a video surfaced over the weekend showing a Department of Migrant Workers employee outside the Philippine Migrant Workers Office in Manama ordering OFWs to leave and telling them their requests for financial aid would no longer be processed.
In the clip, the staffer could be heard saying: “Manila ang nagsabi na wala nang pondo.”
DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac moved swiftly on Sunday, March 9, announcing on X (formerly Twitter) that he had ordered the employee’s recall. “I have issued the order recalling that MWO Bahrain employee being highly disrespectful to OFWs in a viral video,” Cacdac wrote. “I assure our dear OFWs that we shall continue to serve with humility, respect, and hard work.”
Cacdac did not identify the employee by name nor specify what further disciplinary action may follow the recall, according to a report by Philstar.com.
The staffer’s claim that Manila had declared the funds depleted appears to contradict official figures shared during recent Senate hearings. OWWA Administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan told lawmakers on March 6 that the Emergency Repatriation Fund still held roughly P1.5 billion, while the DMW’s own AKSYON Fund stands at P2 billion. Cacdac himself told senators the government has between P5 billion and P6 billion in combined resources available for repatriation and emergency assistance, as reported by Philstar.com and BusinessMirror.
However, the Philippine Embassy in Manama had separately announced on March 6 — two days before the video went viral — that it was suspending all distribution of financial assistance, citing ongoing missile and drone attacks and Bahrain’s security advisories against mass gatherings. The embassy also said walk-ins without confirmed appointments would not be entertained. This raises the question of whether the staffer, however inappropriately, was relaying an existing embassy directive rather than fabricating a policy on the spot.
The incident is the latest in a string of complaints about the responsiveness of Philippine government personnel in the Middle East since the US-Israel strikes on Iran escalated the regional conflict on February 28. During a March 5 Senate Committee on Migrant Workers hearing, Senators Raffy and Erwin Tulfo said they had received around 100 complaints about unreachable hotlines, particularly in Riyadh and Bahrain. One complainant alleged the MWO Bahrain office was closed on March 1, the day after the conflict broke out, according to a report by newswatchplus.ph.
Cacdac disputed that allegation at the hearing, saying he personally saw Bahrain personnel during a Zoom call with labor attaches and welfare officers that day. “Nagpulong kami lahat, including the ambassadors of the DFA with our labor office personnel, welfare officers, labor attaches, administrative staff. Nakita ko po sa sarili kong mata sa Zoom call yung tao natin sa Bahrain, yung labor attache natin, at welfare officers,” Cacdac told senators. He nonetheless pledged to investigate further.
The DMW is currently managing repatriation requests from over 2,000 OFWs across the Middle East, where an estimated 2.4 million to 2.5 million Filipinos live and work. Airspace closures in several Gulf states have severely limited evacuation options, with only around 160 OFWs successfully repatriated via Emirates and Saudi-based flights as of March 7, the Daily Tribune reported.
Cacdac told the Senate he would seek supplemental funding from Congress, with Senator Sherwin Gatchalian estimating the budget request could reach as high as P13 billion to cover the repatriation of 93,000 Filipinos in a worst-case scenario, according to GMA News.
