MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 10, 2013) – Dozens of stranded and undocumented Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday put up tents and camped out of the office of the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah to press officials to attend to their repatriation after authorities temporarily suspended the crackdown on illegal and overstaying migrants in the oil-rich Kingdom.
A Filipino migrants’ rights group called Migrante-Middle East reported that some 80 Filipinos have set up tents besides the Consulate building after Philippine officials refused to attend to their pleas.
“Most of them came from Dammam and in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia and some from Riyadh, Saudi’s capital. They really wanted to be repatriated but Philippine officials allegedly are not attending their request for repatriation. They were only told that Philippine repatriation program was stopped,” said Bobby Fajarito, vice chairman of the Migrante chapter in Jeddah and also the spokesman for the Jeddah Filipino Society.
He said among those who are seeking repatriation were at least 20 women with their children. He said some of the stranded Filipinos were advised by the Philippine Embassy officials in Riyadh to go to Jeddah after telling them that “it is easy to be repatriated in Jeddah.”
“The stranded, especially women with children, have asked assistance from us like food, water and other basic needs. We will try our best to provide them what we can afford and meanwhile we call on Philippine Consulate officials to provide our compatriots with their needs,” Fajarito said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
He said in previous years, hundreds of stranded and undocumented Filipino migrants stayed under the Khadera Bridge in Jeddah to wait for Saudi immigration police to arrest them and bring them at the deportation centers for repatriation.
John Leonard Monterona, Migrante’s regional coordinator, renewed his call to the Aquino government to help repatriate the Filipinos.
“We are calling again President Aquino to immediately order all concerned government agencies to intensify their repatriation program and ensure free and swift repatriation of the stranded OFWs – prioritizing women and their children,” he said.
Monterona said government funds allotted for OFWs repatriation must be used to bring home the Filipinos. He said there is repatriation fund allotted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, an adjunct agency to the Department of Labor and Employment.
“Even President Aquino could arrange to allocate funds from his social funds and other sources if his government has political will to effect mass repatriation of the stranded and undocumented OFWs in Saudi Arabia,” he said.
20