The pardon by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah of 500 Filipinos imprisoned in Saudi jails during the state visit of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week was nothing short of record breaking. According to Philippine Secretary of Labor Patricia Sto. Tomas, the president had originally asked for only 50 Filipinos to be pardoned. When the king so generously replied, “No you are not taking home 50. I’m asking the interior minister to see to it that you bring home as many people as you can take,” Arroyo couldn’t believe her ears for a few seconds. Not only did the king secure the release of 500 Filipinos, but he also paid for their transportation home and any blood money debts they may have had. Included in the 500 were 10 Filipinos who had been sentenced to jail for homicide.
Never before has a Saudi monarch pardoned so many foreigners in Saudi jails at one go. This speaks volumes about the high esteem that Saudis hold Filipinos in the Kingdom. Needless to say, Arroyo’s fiercest critics back home were not happy with the release, with the militant Migrante group insisting that it was routine for foreigners to be pardoned when their president visits the Kingdom. But as a Philippine newspaper noted this week, the magnitude of the mass pardon surpassed Malacanang’s highest expectations and only the most ideologically driven of Arroyo’s critics would begrudge her this diplomatic victory. With the number of Filipinos and their dependents in the Kingdom now greater than 1 million, it is not surprising that a few of them end up in Saudi jails. Many are there for committing so-called “cultural crimes” such as manufacturing alcohol or gambling, things that are not crimes in the Philippines. Yet one must keep in mind that the number of Filipinos in Saudi jails is less than one-tenth of one percent of the total number of Filipinos in the country.
The real problems that many Filipinos still face in their daily working lives here are the continued practice of contract substitution and the harassment that many Filipino maids face from their employers. Time and time again, Filipinos are hired in Manila to work here at a certain wage, only to find that once they land here, they are forced to sign new contracts for a much lower wage. This bait and switch tactic is age-old and should have been banned a long time ago. Likewise, the number of runaway maids seeking refuge in Philippine missions does not seem to be decreasing. Further safeguards to help protect them should be implemented, such as affording them protection under the Saudi labor law.
The emotional scenes of freed Filipinos greeting the president upon their arrival in Manila was truly touching, but are surely not enough to help her avoid the renewed impeachment charges being prepared against her by the opposition. Arroyo would do well to enjoy her mini-honeymoon while it lasts. July promises to be the opening salvo of another season of discontent when she tries to push for charter change while defending herself against renewed charges of corruption. By then, the exhilaration of having helped free 500 Filipinos will have long worn off.
