Persian Gulf island is limbo for OFWs

ABU DHABI—Exhausted from long days of waiting and the anxiety of losing his job, Giovanni Garcia, 28, wept with joy when his employment papers finally rolled out of a fax machine in a hotel in Kish Island, Iran, last Tuesday.

Garcia, who hails from San Fernando, Cebu, hurried to book a flight back to the United Arab Emirates.

He is one of over 3,000 Filipinos who have found themselves stranded in Kish Island and the Oman border when the UAE decided to crack down on foreign nationals who work on a tourist or “visit visa.”

What Garcia and the others usually did was to step out of the UAE for a few days then re-enter on another two-month visit visa. The hope is that eventually they will be granted a regular employment visas. But the UAE put a stop to the practice last July 29 and cracked down on overstaying overseas workers, many of them Filipinos.

Kish, a resort island dubbed Iran’s “pearl in the Persian Gulf,” and the border town of Buraimi in Oman are the two favorite exit points for expatriates, especially Filipinos, because of their proximity to the UAE.

It was Garcia’s fifth exit since he began working in Abu Dhabi on Sept. 2, 2007 as a project engineer in a Singaporean-Malaysian construction company.

Except for one time last June when he returned to the Philippines, all his “exits” have been to Kish Island.

He admitted that “It was hard and traumatic to work without securing an employment visa knowing the implications if we are caught.” But he added that he decided to take the risk “rather than going back to the Philippines where I know I will suffer more.”

“I am very grateful to my company who processed my employment visa,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Garcia is one of the lucky ones. An estimated 2,100 Filipinos are still stranded in Kish while close to a thousand are in Oman, the Khaleej Times and Gulf News reported last week.

Donation boxes

Before finally heading for the airport, Garcia said he dropped 50 AED (Arab Emirates Dirham), or about P640, in a donation box that aims to raise money for the Filipinos stranded on Kish Island.

These donation boxes are seen prominently in hotel lobbies and restaurants where most Filipinos and other expatriates hang out while waiting for their visas.

“I have met many Filipinos whose tales were all traumatic and depressing. Some have stayed on the island for several months and even a year, and no help has come from the Philippine government.

Odd jobs

“Some stranded Filipinos in the border areas have taken on odd jobs in hotels, restaurants and other establishments just to survive,” he said.

Twenty-eight-year-old Joan Templado, an accountant, said the donations are used for Filipinos who have run out of money to pay for their hotel accommodations and food.

Templado, who hails from Butuan City, told the Inquirer she was lucky to have gotten a re-entry visa in July, just before the strict new immigration rules fell.

Like Garcia, she too dropped an amount in the donation box to help those left behind.

Templado said she hoped the Philippine government would do something to help the stranded OFWs.

The donation boxes are labeled “Konting Tulong Lang Po Para Sa Mga Pinoy na Nangangailangan ng Tulong (A little help for Filipinos who need help).”

Carla Cabayles, 23, who has worked as an office girl in Kish Island for over a year, told the Inquirer the donation boxes are a lifeline for many.

Filipino seamen who dock occasionally in the island are considered heroes because of the large donations they usually drop in the “Tulong” boxes, Cabayles said.

Adopted Filipinos

Cabayles, a native of South Cotabato, said she has also frequently “adopted” Filipinos who seek shelter in her apartment when they can no longer afford to pay for hotel accommodations.

Hotels in Kish Island charge at least 30 to 50 AED per day. Sometimes, at least six people stay in one room, she added.

Cabayles said there was a time she missed sending money back home. “Yung sobrang pera ko ipinamimigay ko na lang sa mga Pinoy na nangangailangan ng tulong kasi mas urgent yung pangangailangan nila lalo na yung scheduled for deportation. Ang hirap pag walang masandalan (I gave my extra money to the [stranded] Pinoys because their needs seemed more urgent, especially those facing deportation).”

“Sana naman may tulong na darating (I hope help comes for them),” she said.

Marissa Garcia, 28, a waitress stranded in the island for more than a month, blamed the Philippine government for failing to address their plight.

She said she was lucky to have found refuge with fellow Filipinos who are based on the island. She, too, is waiting for a new visa to be processed.

No jurisdiction

“Ang hirap talaga. Nakaka-discourage kasi walang tulong nakukuha sa gobyerno. Saan napunta yung mga taxes natin? Considered pa namang ‘modern day heroes’ ang mga OFW...pag nagka-problema naman di naman sila natutulungan (It’s so hard. It’s discouraging because we get no help from the government. Where did our taxes go? They call us ‘modern day heroes’ but when there is a problem, no help comes),” she added.

Benito Valeriano, Philippine Consul-General in Dubai, was quoted in Gulf News in an article published last Sept. 28 as saying that he could not intervene in behalf of the stranded Filipinos in Kish and Oman because both areas are outside of his jurisdiction.

In Manila, the Philippine Government earlier announced that it was negotiating with the UAE in behalf of the stranded OFWs. With reports from contributor Nilda Gallo - Jolene Bulambot, Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 15, 2008