ALKHOBAR, 27 February 2003 — Filipinos in the Eastern Province who have not yet registered with the Philippine Embassy will be given another chance today and tomorrow. The Embassy on Wheels will be visiting Alkhobar this weekend for that purpose.
Vice Consul and Third Secretary Germinia Aguilar-Usudan said the team will be holding office at the Park Hotel from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow.
Usudan, who is also the head of the Passport Division at the embassy in Riyadh, said the team will also render passport renewals, document authentication, and assistance to nationals. The labor related issues will be handled by the POLO-OWWA team led by Assistant Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre and Supervising Welfare Officer Sotero Tornea.
De la Torre said registration forms may be submitted to the team or sent by fax to the POLO-OWWA office at telefax number (01) 897-5743 ext. 107.
He said only about 10,000 OFWs of the estimated 300,000 Filipinos in the Eastern Province filed their information sheets last Friday.
In Riyadh, Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla said those who have access to the Internet may also register online through the website www.welfarenet.org, a joint undertaking of the embassy through the Office of the Labor Attaché for the Eastern Province, and the OFW ICT Convenor Group, a Kingdom-wide group of IT professionals and enthusiasts. Earlier, the embassy urged those with mobile phones to register through the text messaging system.
Guinomla also asked OFWs in companies with big concentrations of Filipino workers to download the data entry for of the database OTS from www.welfarenet.org and submit the data by diskette or CD-ROM to Park Hotel in Alkhobar, c’/o Buddy Alpuerto for the Eastern Province, or to Angel Borja of the embassy for Riyadh and the Central Region.
“They may also e-mail the data as DBF attachment to polo [email protected]. A copy of the registration form may be downloaded from the website,” said a press release from the embassy.
For the conventional registration process today and tomorrow, the other registration centers for the Eastern Province will be at:
• International Philippine School in Alkhobar (IPSA), 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Philippine School in Dammam (PSD), 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Skyfreight Cargo Office in Hofuf, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• AYTB Camp 3 in Jubail, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
OFWs residing in the northern border towns are encouraged to coordinate with the following for their registration:
• Al Khafji, Greg Crisosto at tel. No. 057-441534 or Gordiano Elopre at 052-231038
• Nuayriyah, Joelito Ramirez at 059-163325
• Hafar Al Batin, Joy Ilarde at 052-237814 or Nilda Talidong at 052-933076.
• Hofuf/Al Ahsa, Malou Aranador at 054849356 or Flos Famarin at 052-178674.
