RIYADH, 10 March 2004 — Filipinos here are up in arms over what they see as another example of their ambassador’s haughty attitude toward them. Philippine Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael E. Seguis, who met with groups of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) Monday night, heard that they are not allowed to use their embassy premises for cultural activities.
“I am not aware of any order from the Department of Foreign Affairs banning the use of the Philippine Embassy for cultural activities of the Filipino community. But Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla has been asked by Foreign Secretary Delia Albert to use his discretion and assess ... if it’s possible for him to allow the Filipino community to use the chancery premises,” Seguis told Arab News.
Seguis was wrapping up a visit to the Kingdom in the run-up to absentee voting among OFWs. He is the chairman of the Absentee Voting Secretariat.
The OFW groups asked Seguis to hand their complaints to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The groups included the Order of the Knights of Rizal-Riyadh Chapter (OKOR-Riyadh Chapter), United Capampangan, OFW Congress, and Sangguniang Masang Pilipino.
OFWs said the complaint was originally “in whispers; now it’s a strident clamor”. In the complaint addressed to Arroyo, OKOR said: “The policies he (the ambassador) implements in running the affairs of the embassy, and his personal bearing do not sit well with the Filipino community in the Kingdom. A case in point is his continued and unreasonable refusal for the Filipino community to use the premises and facilities of the Philippine Chancery while some favored friends and groups are permitted the use of it.”
OFW leaders say the embassy premises have been used in connection with the ongoing sports competition among diplomats from countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
It added that alone “caused the complete alienation of OFWs whom you swore to protect from your government’s representative in the Kingdom, not to mention all the other complaints from various Filipino community groups that you may have received by now.”
“How would you feel greeting somebody that did not even bother to look back at you? That’s your current ambassador here,” the group said.
The group added that a number of Filipino community associations and Filipino students have been “victims of the aforementioned policy.”
OKOR sponsors an annual inter-school academic, skills, and talents competition Filipino schools in the Kingdom. The group said that “due to the above policy, OKOR was refused the use of the Philippine chancery, (which) gave it no other choice but to bring all our Filipino student contestants to Bahrain.”
“OKOR spent almost SR75,000 to conduct the contest, an amount taken from the funds we saved for the scholarship and improvements of the well-being of the Filipino youths in this area of the world,” it said.
Other OFW leaders were present “as old friends of Seguis”, who served as ambassador in Saudi Arabia before being posted to Indonesia.”
“We were there as old friends of Undersecretary Seguis, although the other groups took the opportunity to vent their gripes and grievances,” said a Filipino banker.
