Philippine Ambassador-designate Ezzedin H. Tago, who is also the consul general in Jeddah, said on Wednesday that the Philippine government had released the money for the plane tickets of 1,084 Filipinos who include Umrah overstayers, runaway workers and children.

Most of them are temporarily housed at the Haj Terminal at Jeddah sea port but around 200 have set up camp outside the Philippine Consulate in Al-Rehab district.

Many of the workers said they will believe that help is on its way only when they are picked up by the authorities and brought to the deportation center at the international airport to be processed for their flights home.

“We are out of cash and we are not earning any money. We did not know it would take this long to process our papers … as of now I am relying on donations from the kind-hearted to survive,” one of the stranded workers told Arab News at the encampment outside the consulate.

The encampment is a collection of makeshift tents and boxes with no medical or sanitary facilities.

A bystander commented: “Something must urgently be done to help these poor people go back to their homes immediately. It's almost 40 degrees Celsius today, the heat is unbearable and they are camped like that in the open. It is against basic human dignity, I cannot do anything for them except hand them spare cash.”

In an earlier interview with Arab News, Luis Espiritu, one of the stranded workers, said many of them were disappointed that the Philippine government does not seem to be in a hurry to send them home even though their continued stay at the Haj Terminal costs the consulate SR15 for each person as payment for accommodation.

“If not for the kindness of members of the Filipino community, we would all have starved,” said Espiritu, confirming complaints by others that the consulate provided them food only twice.

“The last time we had food from the consulate was when Vice President (Jejomar) Binay came to visit us,” he added.

Binay met with the stranded workers at the terminal in mid-March and promised to help find the 26 million pesos needed for their one-way plane tickets to Manila.

On Wednesday, Ambassador-designate Tago said the money had already been released, but the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila will be sending e-tickets instead of cash.

Jauhari Usman, an adviser of the Filipino community umbrella organization Kasapi Congress, wondered why the consulate was not providing food for the stranded Filipinos when it has the budget for it.

“During VP Binay's dialogue with the community last March, it was publicly explained (by consulate officials) that the budget for food was being saved to buy tickets. They should have started using that amount for its real purpose since VP Binay had promised to get the money for the tickets,” Usman told Arab News in a phone interview.

He said many community groups have been discouraged from shelling out donations for food after learning about what the consulate was doing.

Meanwhile, Tago urged those camped near the consulate to return to the Haj Terminal so that they won't be missed out when the buses come to pick them up to be taken to the deportation center.

Arab News learned that of the 1,085 temporarily staying at the Haj Terminal, about 200 have already been sent home. Some of them bought their own plane tickets and the rest were elderly or sickly who were given priority by the consulate.

Thursday night, two buses arrived at the terminal supposedly to pick up some of the Filipinos. One of the Filipinos, however, said the buses were idle because not one staff member from the consulate was around to identify who should go first.

Arab News sent an SMS message to Ambassador Tago to inform him of the situation, and he responded by saying he would call the attention of concerned consulate officials.