OFWs in KSA being used for Arroyo’s political stunt

Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 19, 2009

Migrante-Middle East, the largest alliance of OFW organizations in the Middle East, has confirmed that at present there are an estimated 300 stranded overseas Filipino workers in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have long been waiting for their repatriation so that they will be reunited with their families back home.

We also have received reports that a few days back, these OFWs were transferred to Hajj Airport in Jeddah for their eventual deportation. The repatriation of OFWs, whose number usually swells during and after Ramadan, has been a recurring problem in Jeddah for years now, which the Philippine Consulate General (PCG) has failed to solve. While the deployment of OFWs abroad easily takes place within one month to three months, the repatriation of runaway OFWs, who are victims of abuses and maltreatment, take three months to one year.

This should not be the case. The “One Country Team” approach of the government is not working and is ineffective; it must be coupled with an effective mechanism that guarantees as well the protection of OFWs’ rights and welfare by the receiving host governments.

The Migrante chapter in Jeddah was the first to come to the aid of these runaway OFWs sometime in June when their number started to build up under the Khandera Birdge in Jeddah.

The PCG and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Jeddah were informed and asked to extend assistance to them; but to our dismay, the OWWA failed to provide even food for their daily sustenance. If the case of the stranded OFWs in Khandera Bridge had not been brought to the attention of the media, the OWWA and PCG would not have acted to give them assistance.

The 300 stranded OFWs now in the Hajj Airport in Jeddah are hoping to be repatriated soon; in fact, they are eager and readying themselves to be home and be reunited with their loved ones. But according to a PCG announcement, only 170 of them will be repatriated. But their repatriation will not happen any day from now until Ms Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo arrives in Saudi Arabia on Sept. 21

Just like in her previous visit to Saudi Arabia, Arroyo will make sure that she has a trophy to present to the public—the 300 stranded OFWs. This is a cheap publicity stunt at the expense of OFWs’ lives and well-being.

The Arroyo administration which “peddles” OFWs abroad is reluctant to send back home OFWs in distress. Instead, it makes them an object of Ms Arroyo’s cheap gimmickry to deceive the public.

With or without Ms Arroyo’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the hundreds of OFWs in distress must be repatriated immediately. This is primary government responsibility.

—JOHN LEONARD MONTERONA,
regional coordinator,
Migrante Middle East,
migranteme@gmail.com