RIYADH, 17 December 2003 — The 16 Filipino workers who have holed themselves up the Philippine Embassy here to press for their immediate repatriation have effectively ended their “hunger strike” on Monday by sipping coffee with the ambassador.

But the crisis appeared to be far from over yesterday, with the protesters refusing to leave the embassy, saying they would rather be jailed than taken to a temporary shelter outside of the Diplomatic Quarter.

“Agarang pagpapauwi ay aming kahilingan (immediate repatriation is what we want),” said one of the protesters, when asked if they have agreed to be brought to the Bahay Kalinga, a temporary shelter for stranded Overseas Filipino Workers.

The all-male protesters occupied portions of the chancery on Sunday as they launched their hunger strike, accusing the embassy of failing to work out a way to get them home. The chancery is where official transactions are made at the embassy.

“We are already fed up with promises, hirap na ang kalooban ng bawat isa sa paghihintay” said Domingo Yalung, the spokesman of the group after a meeting with embassy officials yesterday.

“They asked me to convince you (the group) to vacate the premises and they would give us a temporary shelter,” Yalung told his comrades, who were unanimous in saying that they would stay put. While in the shelter, Yalung said that they would just continue waiting for nothing.

Most of the protesters ran away from their employers, complaining of unpaid salaries or benefits.

On the second day of their protest on Monday, they had coffee with Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla and some later played table tennis at the chancery.

Yalung said they were elated when the ambassador finally met them and promised to hand over the letter they signed to Saudi officials to relay their request of “mass and immediate” repatriation.

Yesterday, however, Yalung said that they were all enraged when some embassy officials told them that their cases would be accommodated individually.

“We will not allow anyone to divide us,” said Yalung. He said that they were told to be housed in a temporary shelter.

“Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla talked to us yesterday and promised that he would seek the help of the governor of Riyadh for our immediate repatriation. Now, we realized it was another broken promise, and we will go back to zero as far as our individual cases will be reviewed again” he added.

During a dialogue yesterday, according to Yalung, a letter was drafted by Labor Attaché Bert Abalayan and was signed by the protesting workers, which stated that the signatories “are willing to cooperate with the embassy on this matter.”

“We don’t have any cases. It’s our employers who have cases,” said Yalung who had been charged with embezzlement. He ran away from his employer in June, after which he was imprisoned and later released.

Apart from looking for a shelter for the protesters, Vice Consul Romulo Victor Israel Jr. said, the embassy will exert its “best effort” to make representative to the highest level in the host country to allow for a mass repatriation.