Manila: Some 7,000 overstaying Filipinos in Saudi Arabia have expressed their desire to be repatriated, a migrants rights group said.
John Leonard Monterona of the migrants right group Migrante Middle East (M-ME), in a statement, said that based in figures they received from Jeddah-based offices of the Philippine Overseas Labour (POLO) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), some 7,000 undocumented Filipinos have enlisted for voluntary repatriation since the last quarter of 2011.
“Migrante officers in Jeddah, during a meeting with POLO-OWWA officials at the consulate in Jeddah, came to know that there are now at least 7,000 undocumented OFWs desperately awaiting repatriation,” he said.
He said that the figure only represent those who want to return home and not the total number of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia without necessary documents to legalise their stay.
“A combined estimate of at least 12,000 to 14,000 OFWs are now undocumented in Saudi Arabia compared to our previous year’s estimate of 8,000 to 10,000 undocumented OFWs,” he noted.
According to Monterona, M-ME case records revealed that some of the Filipinos overstaying in Saudi Arabia were forced to run away from their employer due to abuses, maltreatment, and labour malpractices.
These “malpractices” include non-payment of salaries and overtime work, down-grading of salary, contract substitution, working without work permit and no health insurance, allegedly committed by employers.
As to years of being undocumented, Monterona revealed that most of the undocumented have been staying for at least a year, some for three to six years.
“Sixty to 70 per cent of the undocumented are facing absconding case filed by their sponsor-employer,” he added.
Selling blood
Left without jobs to send to their families in the Philippines, most of these overstaying Filipinos were forced to resort to other means to sustain themselves.
Monterona said most overstaying Filipinos in Saudi Arabia get help of friends and fellow migrant workers or work, though illegally, on a part-time basis.
“Undocumented OFWs, who are not lucky enough to find on-and-off part-time job, are forced to beg. Others resorted to ‘selling’ blood in exchange of an ‘honorarium’ provided by Saudi hospitals,” he added.
“The continuing surge of undocumented Filipinos, not only in Saudi Arabia but also in other Middle East countries, must serve a warning and a basis for the government to craft a mass repatriation policy with a detailed repatriation programme,” he said.
“For President Benigno Aquino and his presidential adviser on overseas Filipino concerns Vice-President Jejomar Binay, the best thing to do is to work for the legalisation or documentation of undocumented Filipino workers, which requires the full cooperation and agreement of the host government. This could be done via consistent diplomatic course of action,” Monterona said.
