JEDDAH, 24 August 2006 — “Please help me to be reunited with my family before it is too late.” This was the plea and the wish of an old driver who lodged a complaint against his employer who has allegedly stopped him from returning home by denying him his wages.
Ladislao Reyes, a 71-year-old driver and a native of Nueva Ecija province, north of Manila in the Philippines, has been working in Jeddah for the past 18 years at Al-Shark Transport.
Reyes lodged a complaint against his employer at the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah and the Saudi Labor Office for allegedly ignoring his plea to go home by delaying payment of all his benefits and back wages.
“I just want to get all the benefits that belong to me after years of hard work at this company,” said a teary-eyed Reyes speaking to Philippine Consulate officials.
In Reyes’ estimate, the company owes him more than SR50,000 in back wages, his end-of-service benefits for the past 14 years, vacation tickets, and iqama and medical expenses.
Bulyok Nilong, head of the Philippine Consulate’s labor section, said that his office has exhausted all efforts to solve Reyes’ case amicably. “From the very start, we tried to settle this case without going through the rigorous and time-consuming labor court proceedings. All our efforts have been in vain,” Nilong said.
Last Saturday’s scheduled hearing at the Saudi Labor Office was yet another disappointment to Reyes when, for the second time, his employer did not show up. The hearing has now been re-scheduled for Aug. 26. “Until when will I wait? What if he does not show up again in the next hearing?” asked Reyes, speaking through a translator.
Nilong clarified that since the case is already in the hands of the labor court, his office can no longer intervene. But, according to Nilong, one thing is sure: All companies and establishments with proven offenses and labor-related violations could be blacklisted from hiring workers from the Philippines.
For the past five months since he lodged his complaint, Reyes says he has not received his monthly salary and was also forced to vacate the place where he used to live.
As a result, he is now living on hand-outs from friends and fellow Filipinos, including volunteers of the Pusong Mamon Task Force headed by Yanbu-based community leader, Ronnie Abeto.
Having no shelter to spend the night, Reyes used to change places everyday and slept in different apartments every night. “I’m ashamed of this kind of life but how else can I survive?” he said.
Reyes was lucky that a Saudi national named Muhammad Zahrani took pity on him and has temporarily “adopted” him. The Saudi gave him a place to stay at the mountain village of Iskan, on the outskirts of Jeddah. Though the place has no electricity, Reyes is just as thankful for Zahrani’s hospitality.
“I have no air conditioner but I can sleep outside. It’s better to have this temporary home than nothing,” he said. A gas-powered Coleman lamp serves as his light at night as he prepares to sleep in the open air with mosquitoes.
Despite his ordeal, Reyes said he will have to be patient and wait for the outcome of his complaints. But he is worried with the constant pain in his chest, and that his health condition could deteriorate due to depression and homesickness. Reyes says he has survived three minor heart attacks in 1964, 1978 and most recently in 2003.
“I dread the day when I would suddenly suffer heart attack in the dead of the night. If that happens, my family would be in greater troubles,” he said.
Asked what makes him look healthy and strong despite his previous ailments, he said: “I always think of the welfare and future of my family. That’s where I draw strength and inspiration,” Reyes said.
“My salary was too meager but I wanted all my five children to finish college education. With the help of God, I have achieved that and that is why I ended up staying in the Kingdom past my retirement age,” he said.
Reyes says he has made plans of going on tour to Hong Kong with the money he hopes to receive. “I have other plans but, God willing, I want to give myself first a break by taking my wife to a tour in Hong Kong,” Reyes said.
Murai Aboudafil, official at the Al-Qahtani Transport Establishment, the company that sponsored the Filipino driver, said that they don’t owe the driver anything and claims that Reyes has received all the money he was owed during his working period with the establishment.
”I think someone has tricked him into doing this so that he might get out with some sort of a settlement,” said Aboudafil, adding, “We possess documented proof that we don’t owe him any thing.”
He said that he is representing a legal establishment and things are recorded in documentation. “We are not selling sheep in the street,” he said, adding that everything is clear and documented. He said that Reyes has always received his salary, even during the four months he was absent when undergoing eye surgery.
”We took good care of him, because of his eye problem. We didn’t give him long trips. Instead, we just used to send him to the seaport for some simple transport work,” he said.
He noted that the company’s headquarters and the driver’s sponsor are located in Khamis Mushayt. “We told him if he has a case to file he should file it in Khamis Mushayt’s Labor Office so that the sponsor can attend. He refused and insisted to file the case in Jeddah, where the sponsor cannot arrive due to heavy work obligations,” he said.
Aboudafil said he would meet the driver and see if we could resolve his issues peacefully. “If he refuses any peaceful solution we don’t mind going through court.”
Following the offer to speak, Reyes met with Aboudafil and was offered a settlement of SR10,000 if he withdraws his complaint from the Labor Office. After an hour of haggling, he made a final counter-offer of SR20,000 but Aboudafil rejected it and thus the negotiation ended.
Reyes said: “Aboudafil told me not to expect anything and that they weren’t going to be attending the next Labor Office meeting because they are supposedly busy.”
Asked why he had agreed to a meeting by himself, Reyes said the employer’s son had warned him not to bring with him anyone, especially someone from the consulate.
“I agreed to a meeting in good faith, more so that I know Murai Aboudafil. He was the man who interviewed me in Manila,” Reyes told Arab News.
