100 OFWs jailed in Qatar wish to be home by Christmas

By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: November 08, 2009

MANILA, Philippines -- About 100 overseas Filipino workers languishing in a deportation jail in Doha, Qatar, have urged the government to work for their speedy repatriation so that they could be reunited with their families in time for the holiday season.

The OFW alliance Migrante-Middle East said the Filipinos were neglected by the Philippine diplomatic and labor officials Qatar, even after the workers nearly died in a fire that broke out at the jail on Oct. 18.

John Leonard Monterona, the Saudi Arabia-based regional coordinator of the Migrante-Mideast, said he was in touch with one of the OFWs, Nelly (not her real name) who recounted how she and the other Filipinos got the scare of their lives when they found themselves trapped inside the jail during the morning fire.

“They helped one another destroy the six-inch-thick padlocks, and so were able to rush out of their cells,” Monterona said, adding that the fire was put out by authorities and no one was hurt.

“If not for our will and collective action, we would have been burned alive,” he quoted Nelly as saying. Nelly is a domestic helper who ran away from her abusive employer.

Nelly was finally repatriated last week but she told Migrante that about 100 more Filipinos were still staying at the detention center. Monterona said he got the names of 52 of the detainees together with their case numbers and asked the Philippine Embassy’s assistance to nationals unit, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office to look after the Filipinos.

“We already sent an official letter inquiring into the status of the cases of the 52 OFWs and the others who were stranded, urging the embassy to fast track the resolution of the cases so that they could be sent home and they could spend Christmas with their loved ones,” Monterona said.

He said many of the detainees have been languishing at the deportation center for three to six months.

“Just like in other deportation centers, our fellow OFWs stranded in Doha deportation center have been neglected. No visitation, no assistance and no welfare services were given to them while inside the deportation center even after the fire broke out,” Monterona said.

One OFW inside the Doha deportation center is about three-months pregnant, according to Monterona.