DAMMAM, 23 October — Overseas Filipino Workers in the Eastern Region may yet receive a "fastbreak" audience with Sen. Robert Jaworski this weekend.
Jawo, as he is popularly known among Philippine basketball fanatics, will be joining Senate President Franklin Drilon to meet with Filipinos in the region on the occasion of Filipino Community Day.
The main event is scheduled on Friday at the Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Amusement Park in Half-Moon Bay here in Dammam.
This early, fans of Jaworski during his four decades of playing basketball are raring to see their hero. But even those who despised him then are eager to see him, if only to know what he is doing as a senator for the benefit of overseas Filipinos.
The Saudi Arabia Hiligaynon Inc. (SAHI), which is organizing the event, told Arab News that they received a telex message from Manila saying that Jaworski and his wife might be part of Drilon’s entourage, which also includes the chief senate protocol and the senate president’s chief of staff.
Roilo Alojado, committee chairman for the Filipino Community Day, said that Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla will be the guest of honor on this event. The OFWs here will also have an early holiday "three-point shot" treat from pop music icon Rey Valera, singer-comedian Karding of the former Reycard Duets tandem, and rising child star Lance Raymundo.
On Friday evening, Drilon and Jaworski will be meeting community leaders in a dinner-forum to be held at the Park Hotel.
The All Filipino Community and Sports Commission (Afcscom) and the OFW Congress in the Eastern Province (OFWC-EP) will be presenting position papers on several issues which they will ask the senators to work on when they go back to Manila.
First among their concerns is the Absentee Voting Bill.
With the bill now nearing final approval, OFWs in the region are getting ready drafting proposals on the implementing rules and regulations on how to vote, considering that there is no extension of the Philippine Embassy in this area.
Tony Ranque, a convenor in the Eastern Region for the International Coalition for Filipino Voting Rights (ICOFVR), suggested that the embassy open a resource center in Dammam as mandated by the Migrant Workers Act.
OFWs in the Eastern Region may then send to or cast their votes in this resource center. Otherwise, the workers will be made to travel for eight hours back and forth to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh just to register and cast their votes.
Afcscom likewise will be asking the Philippine government to at least allow use of the International Philippine School in Alkhobar as a registration and polling center. "Anyway, this is only once in three years and we hope this will be granted both by the Saudi and Philippine governments," Afcscom overall chairman Andy Reyes said.
Other community leaders will also be asking the two senators to ask President Gloria Arroyo to persuade Philippine Airlines to increase its flight in the Kingdom and open up again its operation in Dammam as part of its program to invite tourists and investors to the Philippines.
"How can we convince the people here to take a tour to Manila when we don’t have our own airline? PAL cannot even serve almost a million Filipinos in the Kingdom, much more if we invite at least two tourists each," George Palencia, president of the United Bicolanos, said.
The four professional organizations in the Kingdom which are the Institute of Integrated Electrical Engineers, Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers, Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers and Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants will ask the senators to sponsor a bill allowing the Professional Regulation Commission in Manila to conduct the licensure exams in the Kingdom.
PRC chairwoman Antonieta Fortuna-Ibe scrapped the planned licensure examinations this year, saying the commission has no authority to to conduct such examinations outside the Philippines. "We have been having these examinations here since the Ramos administration and we seek help from our visiting senators to look into this matter...," a joint statement by the four groups said.
The OFWC-EP president Isabelo Hugo will also be asking the two senators particularly on government’s immediate assistance to distressed workers in the Kingdom, exempting their dependents for payment of travel tax, and allowing OFWs to use their Saudi driver’s license in the Philippines during vacation, among their numerous concerns.
Drilon and his entourage were invited to visit Philippine schools in Dammam and Alkhobar on Saturday leaving.
