MANILA, 6 May 2003 — Filipino community leaders in Saudi Arabia said there is no truth to reports that Saudi Arabian employers were preventing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) under their employ from coming back to the Philippines lest these workers contract Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
“Chikka lang yan (those are just rumors),” OFW Rashid Fabricante said in a text message to Arab News.
Andy Reyes of the All Filipino Community Sports Committee (AFSCOM) said in an e-mail message that “this is just another case of mis- or lack of- information that caused panic to people or companies who are afraid, and reacting the easy way out without researching first.”
Reyes suggested the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the welfare officers assigned there “check out the veracity of these reports of companies prohibiting their employees to go on vacation; and to coordinate with DOH (Department of Health) and provide the necessary info to the concerned Saudi authority and the companies who require such info. Hopefully this will reassure them that there is nothing to worry about.”
Fabricante also said in an e-mail message that OFWs in Saudi Arabia were still concerned about the effect on voting in the Eastern Provinces by the adjustment of the timelines for overseas absentee voting (OAV).
He said that while OFWs there were appreciative of the improved package of benefits for OFWs presented by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last May 1, they were after the issuance of an executive order formalizing the Philippine Council on Reintegration (Philcore) composed of government and non-government organizations and OFW groups in the Philippines.
The initial reports of OFWs being prevented from coming home were made in a report by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Jose Brillantes to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday.
Brillantes, who heads the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA), later said in a radio interview that they would verify first if the ban was formulated by individual employers or the Saudi government.
He said he had received reports that the owners of a brick factory in Saudi Arabia were among those that canceled the vacation of some 200 Filipino workers for this year due to the SARS scare.
If it came from the Saudi government, Brillantes said the DFA would summon the Saudi ambassador to thresh out the matter.
But if it’s a policy of individual companies, he said government could only “explain” to the firms that the Philippines is “almost SARS-free.” He said the Philippine government could also cite the pronouncements of the World Health Organization (WHO) that it was satisfied with the measures taken by the government against SARS.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said his office is verifying the report that many employers of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia have canceled all vacations because of the SARS scare.
