JEDDAH, 22 July 2003 — The 13 Filipino fishermen who left their employer after months of unpaid work won’t be using the plane tickets provided by Sen. Panfilo Lacson after all.

Labor Attaché Nasser Munder, head of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Jeddah, said the fishermen will be using tickets from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration instead.

Munder said they have opted for the OWWWA tickets after they were told of the “technicalities” that could arise if they use the Lacson tickets.

Told of the plight of the fishermen during his visit to Jeddah early this month, the opposition senator immediately got one-way tickets from the Philippine Airlines for all 13 workers, not knowing that the OWWA main office in Manila was in the process of sending a set of Jeddah-Manila tickets.

According to Munder and some community leaders, while the Lacson tickets were very much appreciated, they are good only from Riyadh to Manila.

“If the fishermen will use Senator Lacson’s tickets, there would be some problems to be considered,” he said.

One is the question of who will handle the transporation cost for the fishermen from Jeddah to Riyadh. Munder said the OWWA has “no funds available to cover the extra cost.”

Another question is that since the fishermen are carrying seamen’s passbook and their point of entry is Jeddah, their might be a problem in processing their travel visas if they have to exit from Riyadh.

Munder said the workers’ employer, Al Sayaad Establishment, has agreed to get exit visas for the them after initially insisting on getting them to sign a “waiver of consent,” which would bar them from filing a case against the company.

The employer also demanded that the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) remove its recruitment agency in Manila from the government blacklist.

Munder said the employer was later persuaded to drop the conditions, but it had pleaded for help from the POEA and POLO should the workers lodge a case against it when they are in Manila.

Upon the suggestion of some community leaders, Munder said he will write Lacson to request that the tickets be used for other stranded OFWs.