OFWs warned against misrepresenting themselves as Muslims

OFWs warned against misrepresenting themselves as Muslims

Mar 14, 2006
Updated 01:24pm (Mla time)
Veronica Uy
INQ7.net

NON-Muslim Filipino workers seeking jobs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia should not misrepresent themselves as Muslims, a foreign affairs official assigned to handle OFW concerns in the Middle East and Africa said in a statement.

Assistant Secretary for Middle East and African Affairs Oscar Valenzuela said those who would run the “serious” risk of arrest.

Valenzuela said the Saudi embassy also made a similar warning when it advised non-Muslims against going into the cities of Mecca and Medina.

He said entry of non-Muslims in these two holy places in Islam was strictly prohibited and “transgressors would be subject to severe punishment if caught.”

“The Saudi Arabian embassy further warned that such infractions may have serious religious repercussions,” Valenzuela said.

Valenzuela issued the warning as he disclosed that unscrupulous recruiters would tell their clients to identify themselves as Muslims.

He said prospective OFWs would even pay large sums of money for these fake certificates.

Valenzuela said some OFWs with these fake certificates of Muslim identity had been able to secure entry visas and were working illegally in Saudi. He said these same false certificates of Muslim identity had also been used to gain entry into Saudi Arabia as umrah and hajj pilgrims. Valenzuela said Filipino-Muslims had condemned this practice because they defiled the sanctity of the two holiest places of Islam and created a bad image of Filipinos. Foreign service officer Raymund Toledo said the Office of Muslim Affairs, the government agency that issues such certificates, warned that those in possession of, or simply trying to obtain, false certificates of Muslim identity would be prosecuted.

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