President Arroyo laid down her government’s solution that would help overseas Filipino workers displaced by the global economic crisis.

During her trip to Bahrain, Mrs. Arroyo told OFWs deployed there that her government has set aside a P1 billion fund to help affected workers displaced due to the crisis.

“For our government, it is now pay back time. The heroic efforts of our expat workers, of you, our expatriate workers, will not go unreciprocated. So we are calling our program, a program full of reciprocitym which shall be carried out para tulungan yung mga nawalan ng trabaho," the President said.

Mrs. Arroyo said the Filipino Expatriate Livelihood Support Fund would come from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

The OWWA, together with the Department of Labor and Employment, have been tasked to find jobs or retrain retrenched workers.

Mrs. Arroyo said more job employment opportunities await Filipino workers in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia.

"Ngunit gusto kong ibalita na mas marami naman ang bagong trabahong inaalok. At kanina nakausap ko na yung opisyal ng Saudi Arabia, sabi nila, ok ang Saudi at ok ang inyong mga trabaho," she said.

Lawmakers from the House of Representatives and government officials like Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap accompanied the President during her one-day working visit to Saudi Arabia.

According to the Philippine Information Agency’s website, President Arroyo’s visit is part of the government’s effort to further strengthen its economic and bilateral relations with Bahrain, which is host to thousands of Filipino overseas workers.

Meanwhile, President Arroyo will make a sidetrip to Washington DC to attend the national prayer breakfast of members of the United States Congress on Thursday.

President Arroyo has no scheduled meeting with US President Barack Obama, but she is expected to meet him at the Thursday morning breakfast where Obama is the guest speaker.

She will be back in the Philippines this weekend. -- Roland Blanco, ABS-CBN Middle East News Bureau, Riyadh and ANC’s Dateline Philippines