49 Distressed and Jailed OFWs Repatriated

Bien Custodio, Arab News

RIYADH, 7 June 2006 — Forty-nine Filipino women were repatriated to the Philippines last night aboard a Gulf Air flight via Bahrain, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) said.

Thirty of the women were among those who have sought refuge at the Bahay Kalinga (BK), a temporary shelter maintained in the Saudi capital by the Philippine government for distressed female Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), Labor Attaché Manuel Roldan told Arab News.

Roldan said 19 others were released from the Al-Nisa jail in Riyadh, including five who were transferred from Jeddah.

A press statement issued by the Philippine Embassy said the repatriation “is in time for the commemoration of Migrant Workers’ Day,” which is to be celebrated today in the Philippines and in many parts of the globe where there are Filipinos.

Al-Nisa earlier released 30 other female Filipino detainees, most of whom were charged with minor crimes such as “immorality,” according to the press release quoting Charge d’Affaires Nestor N. Padalhin.

The announcement placed the number of OFWs being repatriated at 50.

Arab News learned yesterday, however, that one of the Bahay Kalinga wards left the shelter unnoticed.

“Apparently, she has chosen to remain in the Kingdom. Nobody knows where she is right now,” a staff at the temporary shelter told Arab News.

Airline tickets for the repatriated workers were provided by the Overseas Workers Welfare

Administration (OWWA), the Philippine agency responsible for providing welfare for distressed OFWs, according to the statement.

The detainees who were freed yesterday are among the 500 pardoned by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, for humanitarian reasons.

Of the number, 188 were sent home upon the return of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to Manila from a state visit to Saudi Arabia early last month.

About 200 were freed weeks before Arroyo’s visit. During her four-day state visit, she sought the Kingdom’s assurance of a steady oil supply for the Philippines amid a possible disruption of world oil supply.

Aside from getting a royal pardon, the 188 detainees also got one-way plane tickets from the Saudi government.

Philippine officials say the number of Filipino workers and their dependents in the Kingdom is estimated to have reached 1.2 million.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=10&section=0&article=83420&d=10&m=6&y=2006