The foreign affairs department on Thursday advised the remaining Filipino drivers stranded in Dubai to go home. The advice was reportedly issued by the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai after learning that jobs offered to the drivers were non-existent.

In a press statement posted on the website of the DFA, it stated that President Arroyo had recently ordered the filing of charges against the driver’s recruiter, CYM International Services and Placement Agency, Inc.

The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Dubai has already repatriated 15 of the 137 stranded Pinoy drivers.

Reports said that the first batch of seven bus drivers -- Joey Quitaleg, Napoleon Roel Santos, Alberto Ramos, Roque Santiago, Aristotle Miclap, Allan Balmoria, Gerardo Salud -- arrived Wednesday afternoon at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal.

The second batch of eight bus drivers arrived past 8 p.m. Wednesday via Philippine Airlines flight PR 307.

Santos, who was with the first batch, was only able to bring home biscuits and soap for his family. He said he did not realize that he would be coming back home empty-handed.

They responded to an advertisement by the recruitment agency and promised jobs as bus drivers in Dubai’s Road Transport Authority (RTA). However, the government agency reportedly was not hiring any more drivers.

Santos said the agency sent them to Dubai as tourists and promised them that they would be able to undergo training as bus drivers for RTA.

Reports said some of the drivers have been stranded in Dubai since January.

Santos said that for two months, they never got the chance to drive a bus until their tourist visas expired. He said other applicants were forced to return to the Philippines.

The bus drivers, meanwhile, appealed for help from the government. They said the recruitment agency promised they would be paid 5,200 dirham (P67,000) monthly salary.

Some of the drivers and their families had to use their house and lot as collateral, while others took loans from a lending company referred to them by the recruitment agency to be able to raise the P150,000 placement fee.

The recruitment agency, for its part, reportedly declined to answer the allegations.

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will provide plane fares to the drivers to Qatar and livelihood loans for those who decide to go back to the Philippines and aid in the illegal recruitment probe against their recruitment agency.

In a press statement, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque instructed the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to assist the stranded Filipinos in Dubai to look for jobs in Qatar.

The DOLE said work visas to Qatar will be worked out once the drivers’ future employers finalize their employment contracts.

Secretary Roque is in Qatar with OWWA and POEA officials to meet with Middle East employers who need skilled Filipino workers for various business projects.