171 ‘undocumented’ Filipinos sent to deportation center

The Philippine Consulate in Jeddah endorsed on Thursday 171 undocumented Filipinos to the Saudi General Services Center (GSC) deportation facilities in Shumaisy, about 60 km from Jeddah.
“Of the total number, 136 were women and 50 were children. This is the seventh group of endorsees for 2014,” Vice Consul Jim Josephus Minglana, head of the consulate’s Assistance to Nationals Section (ANS), told Arab News.
The number brings to 871 the number of undocumented OFWs endorsed by the consulate and awaiting exit visas at the GSC. The endorsement is being made through special arrangement with the Saudi government.
Last Sunday, the consulate also endorsed the sixth group comprised of 171 men, women and children to the GSC.
The Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Jeddah headed by Labor Attache Jainal Rasul Jr. and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), provided buses for daily transfers, which commenced on Jan. 26.
Garibay, together with Consul Leo Tito L. Ausan Jr. and other consulate officers, ensured the orderly transfer and endorsement of the applicants.
Perlita Panganiban, the DSWD attache who had been spearheading the consulate’s delivery of psychosocial needs of stranded OFWs, especially mothers and children, the elderly and the sick, also assisted the passengers.
The OFWs endorsed are among the 8,000 who approached the consulate in April 2013 for assistance in the issuance of exit visas by Saudi authorities.
The consulate repatriated at least 4,167 Filipinos in 2013, a year of crisis in mass repatriation brought about by the Kingdom’s campaign against illegal workers.