JEDDAH, 13 October 2007 — The ordeal of seven stranded workers of Sawary Superstores in Jeddah has finally ended, with all but one repatriated to the Philippines.

Four of the workers arrived in Manila yesterday, Arab News learned from a text message sent by their leader. The group left Jeddah on Thursday night on board a Singapore Airlines flight.

Two of their colleagues left on board a Brunei Airlines flight on Wednesday night and arrived safely in Manila on Thursday.

“One of our colleagues has opted to remain in the Kingdom by getting a work visa,” said Jeffrey Ponce, the workers’ designated leader.

“We thank everyone who helped us through our ordeal, particularly the Philippine Consulate and labor officials who helped pressure our employer to get exit visas for us and the community members, particularly to Omar Salvacion of Sam Foundation and William Sol, and our co-workers and who provided food and moral support,” Ponce, who was on the Brunei flight, said in a text message upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.

Rey Castulo, one of those in the Singapore Airlines flight, said: “We are going to regroup in Manila and weigh our options, including filing a claim against the placement agency that recruited us.”

The workers’ case has led the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to ban Sawary Marketing and Restaurant Group from further hiring Filipino workers.

The POEA also suspended the license of two local recruitment agencies — the Alba International Placement Agency and Multi-Resources Development Corporation (MRDC) — for circumventing the country’s laws.

According to a complaint by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Jeddah to the POEA, Alba and MRDC recruited more than 60 workers from 2005 to 2007 supposedly to be trained in Jeddah.

All workers were brought to Jeddah in three batches using visit visas.

Those in the first batch were repatriated last year after Labor Attaché Bulyok Nilong brought the workers’ complaints to the attention of the Sawary management.

Those in the third batch arrived in February this year and were sent home in May just as their visit visas expired.

Ponce’s group, the second batch, got stranded when the company apparently could not secure exit visas for them.

Sawary, Alba and the MRDC wrote the POEA promising that they would provide training for the workers and that no placement fee would be charged them.

Sawary also promised to provide the “trainees” with work visas and iqamas and to provide decent accommodation should it decide to hire them.

In their complaint to the POLO and consulate, Ponce and his group said they were actually charged a placement fee of 35,000 pesos (about $800) each by Alba and were made to work as merchandisers in Jeddah but Sawary never provided them work permits and iqamas (national IDs).

“We came to work in Jeddah with the understanding that the company will provide work permits and iqamas. By not providing the proper documents, the company placed us at risk of being arrested for violating Saudi laws,” said Ponce in a previous interview.

POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz signed the disqualification and suspension orders against Sawary, MRDC and Alba last month upon the recommendation of Labor Attaché Nilong.

The case also compelled Consul General Pendosina N. Lomondot to issue a warning to other Filipino workers against accepting job offers using visit visas in the Kingdom, saying such visas cannot be converted to work visas.

A consulate said the workers were made by Sawary and Alba officials to sign a “quit claim” in exchange for the release of their exit visas. But according to Vicky Salian, head of the consulate’s Assistance to Nationals Section, Nilong has assured the workers that the waiver they signed would have no bearing since the POLO or consulate are not endorsing it.

Ponce said an official of Alba wrote a promissory note saying he will bring them back to Saudi Arabia on a working visa in exchange for their dropping their complaint. The workers said they were not biting.

“We were duped into coming here to work illegally. We won’t make that mistake again,” said Ponce.