DFA: 42 Filipinos living under Saudi bridge home soon

MANILA, Philippines—Forty-two overseas Filipino workers who have been living for months under a bridge in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will finally be back home this week, Vice President Noli de Castro said on Saturday.

They are among 237 Filipinos who have been camped out for months under the Al Khandara Bridge with other runaway foreign workers, turning the area into a “tent city.”

De Castro, who is also presidential adviser on OFWs, said the 42 workers had been cleared by Saudi authorities for deportation and would arrive in Manila on April 10.

The other Filipinos, he said, were being assisted by the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah in getting their deportation clearances. They were either overstaying workers or runaways, he added.

According to Foreign Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos, the bridge fiasco apparently started with text messages saying that OFWs who wanted to return to the Philippines immediately should go to Jeddah and wait at the Al Khandara Bridge for a bus that would pick them up.

Hundreds of disgruntled overseas workers from all over Saudi Arabia showed up.

According to Conejos, a bus did arrive but most of the Filipinos did not have the proper papers and were not allowed to get on. Apparently, the deportation bus only applied to those who had overstayed, pilgrimage visas, Conejos said.

Some of the Filipinos complained they were duped by fixers who took their money, promising fast processing at the Jeddah deportation center.

Among those stranded were 91 Filipino pilgrims who were immediately repatriated, Conejos said.

On Jan. 25, 38 Filipino women and children who were camped under the bridge returned home. - Cynthia Balana, Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 06, 2008