MANILA- THE Philippines' huge labour diaspora should heed other countries' cultural sensitivities after Saudi Arabia arrested 67 cross-dressing Filipino male workers, a senior presidential aide said on Friday.

'When they enter their host country, they should know the culture of their host country,' said Silvestre Bello, cabinet secretary and a top aide to President Gloria Arroyo.

Mr Bello was speaking to reporters after learning of the arrests of the 67 Filipinos at a private party and drag show in a villa near Riyadh earlier this month.

Saudi Arabia, which follows strict Islamic law, is a temporary home to about a million of the nearly nine-million-strong Filipino work force abroad.

Mr Bello said some Filipinos, brought up in a culturally liberal western-oriented democracy, 'sometimes can't avoid the individual urge or expression of what they feel.' Manila is providing legal assistance to the 67, he added.

The US-based Human Rights Watch called on Saudi authorities on Wednesday to drop charges against the Filipinos, who face possible lashes and jail for both cross-dressing charges and violating Saudi Arabia's strict ban on alcohol, according to Philippines embassy vice-consul Roussel Reyes. -- AFP