12 Filipino campers referred to SWA

Ambassador Ezzedin H. Tago said yesterday that the Philippine Embassy is endorsing 12 of the 77 Filipinos, who have camped in its premises to the Saudi Social Welfare Administration (SWA).
The 12 are runaway female household workers. “Every day of the week, we will be endorsing 30 females to the Saudi Welfare Administration or a total of 150 a week,” the Filipino envoy said. There are currently 1,348 enlisted with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) for endorsement to the SWA. He added that the embassy invitation stands for those who have camped inside the embassy premises to be relocated to the Bahay Kalinga (BK) Foundation for women and a rest house for men.
“I’d also like to clarify that we’re not only giving relocation arrangements for Filipino women campers but also to males,” Tago said. He also called on the 1,164 men demanding repatriation to coordinate with their employers and seek “no objection certificates,” which are essential for the transfer of their sponsorship.
“This is also in anticipation of the guidelines expected to be issued by the Ministry of Labor to rectify their status,” he said. “I also urge the rest to coordinate with the embassy’s staff to give the needed information so that the embassy could call their employers on their behalf.”
The embassy yesterday met the Filipino campers’ demand for blankets, toiletries and milk.