JEDDAH, 23 September — Alyansa said yesterday it will help the Philippine Consulate a database of Filipinos working in the Western Region of the Kingdom in connection with the government’s contingency plan in case war breaks out between the US and Iraq.
Alyansa proposed to lead the project during a meeting with Consul General Kadatuan P. Usop last week. Various community leaders in Jeddah and nearby areas attended the meeting, with discussions centering mainly on the contingency plan Malacañang has sent out to embassies and consulates.
With an active and current database, disseminating information, recall or evacuation procedures would be much easier to accomplish, consulate and Alyansa officials said.
Jibreel de Vera, secretary-general of Alyansa, said putting up a data base on a grand scale will not be easy and that the help of community organizations all over the region is needed. “Our goal is make sure that every OFW has a record. We want all OFW’s (documented and undocumented) to be all accounted for,” added de Vera.
Alyansa has its work cut out. Of the more than 280,000 OFWs in the Western Region, only 15,000 (or 5 percent) had filled out information forms that the consulate distributed late last year when the Afghanistan war broke out.
According to Rudy Carillo, a computer engineer and treasurer of Alyansa, the plan is to first extract information from the raw source stored at the consulate using the MS Access program.
Data entry will be done in batches and will be integrated to the master list. During the data entry, integrity of the information will be doubled-checked as well.
To account for the others, Alyansa will produce information sheet that it will distribute to companies. OFW’s will be requested to fill out the form that will then be gathered by Alyansa’s allied organizations. Information will then be added to the master list.
“We will get a vicinity map of Jeddah and the Western Region and pinpoint locations where Alyansa have allied organizations. Then we will divide the area by sectors and will distribute information sheets using an allied organization that is within the sector,” Carillo continued.
Members of the Alyansa who have access to computers will also be asked to help in data entry. Each member will be asked to enter at least 100 names of the initial information extracted from the Consulate’s list.
Arlen Sallador, deputy secretary-general of Alyansa, said that a contingency plan must not only be used during times of crises but it must be in place and workable in every instance an OFW or group of OFWs need assistance.
Established only last month, Alyansa is an alliance of more than 40 community, civic, sports, cooperative and professional organizations from Jeddah, Al-Baha and Yanbu.