BURAIDAH, 30 January 2007 — A plan to put up a school for Filipino students in Qassim next schoolyear has won the backing of the Philippine Embassy.
Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor said he is ready to endorse the new school for accreditation by the Department of Education in the Philippines as soon as the proponents secure from the Saudi Ministry of Education a license to operate.
Villamor promised to do his best “to help you set up your own school” during a dialogue in Al Rass with the community in Qassim on Friday, upon the invitation of the umbrella group Samahan ng Manggagawang Pilipino sa Qassim (Sampiga).
Sampiga President Danilo M. Mangilaya, who presented a petition letter seeking the ambassador’s support, said the planned school will be called Al Qassim International School.
Mangilaya hopes that the school would be ready by next schoolyear (June) with 200 pupils as initial enrollees. He said the pupils are children of Filipino workers in Badaya, Buraidah, Unaizah, Al-Rass, Mednab, Ayun Al Jowah, Al-Bukayriyah and Riyadh Al-Khabra.
The embassy’s endorsement is crucial for schools seeking accreditation from Manila to teach the Philippine educational curriculum.
Villamor said he had always been supportive of the establishment especially of quality schools for Filipino students.
When he was a consul at the Philippine Embassy then in Jeddah in 1982, Villamor’s wife, Rosa Maria Barrera, co-founded the first Filipino school in the Kingdom, which was later renamed the International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ).
Villamor said it is just right that the community in Qassim have their own school considering the big number of Filipinos in the region, which is estimated at 70,000.
Warm Welcome
Villamor got a warm welcome from the community, with many OFWs saying they would like to see more visits by embassy officials not just to provide consular services but also to mingle with workers.
“We are indeed happy that Ambassador Antonio P. Villamor visited us. It shows his concern for us; otherwise, he would have just sent a representative,” said Lina Yerro Al-Hariqi, a nurse who is working at Al-Rass General Hospital and married to a Saudi. Al-Hariqi and husband Saleh are active in the Filipino community in Al Rass.
Dr. Romulo Celebrados, a pediatrician at Bukayriyah Hospital, said: “OFWs in Qassim have been wishing that a Philippine ambassador will visit them. Ambassador Villamor’s visit is a realization of such a wish.”
Villamor, who was plucked by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo out of retirement to become the envoy to the Kingdom, said it’s a challenge to head the post with the second biggest number of Overseas Filipino Workers (next to the United States).
But he said the job, especially of caring for compatriots who run into trouble, should not be that difficult with many community organizations and individuals who are willing to help.
He cited those who participate in outreach community activities, such as those who volunteered for the 5th Medical and Dental Mission organized by Sampiga in collaboration with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the Central Region under Labor Attaché Angel L. Borja.
Volunteers for the mission came from Al Rass General Hospital, Al-Bukariyah Hospital, Badaya Hospital, King Saud Hospital (Unaizah), Maternity & Children’s Hospital (Buraidah), Al-Safwa Polyclinic (Buraidah), Ayun Al-Jowa Hospital, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center (KFSH & RC), and MOH PHC & Private Clinic Medical/Nursing staff.
Even local companies and individuals joined the act by sponsoring the mission. These included Saleh Assaf Al-Assaf, Saleh Ibrahim and Lina Hariqi, Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Appliances Corp., Al-Amir Mujahed Al-Khalifa, Lito Lico and Fehelp delegates, and Zenab M.V. Ezzat, a nursing directress at Al-Rass General Hospital.
The Riyadh-based Filipino Expatriates Health Education & Livelihood Program (Fehelp) led by Lito Lico, Archie Trigo and Raymundo V. Garcia also participated in the mission .
“Being a Filipino is a matter of birth. We must practice it everyday. We must live it. We must help our kababayans in need,” Villamor said.
He compared the Philippines to a quilt.
“A quilt, usually in the form of a bedspread, is made up of many small patches of cloth, many pieces, many colors and sizes, all woven and sewn together by a common thread. We all come from different regions. We speak different dialects but we are all Filipinos proud of our past and looking forward to a common vision,” he said.
The Sampiga members who attended the event came from Badaya, Buraidah, Unaizah, Al-Rass, Mednab, Ayun Al Jowah, Al-Bukayriyah and Riyadh Al-Khabra in Al-Qassim. Others came from Zulfi, Majma, and Al Ghat in Riyadh and the rest were from Hail region.
