JEDDAH, 10 June 2007 — After quite a long wait, hundreds of distressed Filipino workers and overstayers, who have flocked to the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah to seek help in going home, are now closer to getting repatriated.
In yet another favorable response to an appeal for help by the Philippine government, Saudi authorities yesterday agreed to move the stranded Filipinos to the Haj Terminal and to the Port Area in preparation for their flight to Manila.
“They are being brought to the Haj Terminal for the processing of their documents. Inshallah, within 24 hours after their travel documents are in order, they will be repatriated to the Philippines,” Consul General Pendosina N. Lomondot told reporters.
Lomondot said around 350 people, including 120 women and children, were taken to the Haj Terminal and Port Area from the consulate by bus.
Lomondot said the big number of stranded Filipinos surprised Saudi officials who came to the consulate yesterday to oversee the transfer.
He said the consulate had asked for travel papers for about 250 people, many of them workers from different parts of the Kingdom who got stranded in Jeddah due to the mistaken notion that they could leave for home via the so-called “backdoor exit.”
When the Saudi authorities arrived at the consulate to start the repatriation process, many overstayers — mostly women who reportedly came to the Kingdom on Umrah visas — rushed in and asked to be included.
“They thought that the Saudi government had declared an amnesty program for everyone and so these overstayers came,” Lomondot said in Filipino.
Nonetheless, he said, the Saudi officials allowed the late-comers to be included in the bus rides for the Haj Terminal.
Lomondot said he appreciated the host government’s “gesture of compassion,” which came after he sent appeals for help.
Among those who were at the consulate yesterday were the head of the Ministry of Interior’s criminal investigation division, the chief of the Diplomatic Security Force in the Western Region; a representative of Ambassador Jamal Balkay of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and officials of the Ministry of Hajj and the Passport and Immigration Department.
Priority
Welfare Officer Jake Samain of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office said those whose travel papers were ready and at least two who were sick would be given priority in the flight home.
In a phone interview with Arab News, he said one of the male workers was very ill and he has to be sent home immediately so that he could seek treatment.
Samain said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) in Manila is coordinating with recruitment agencies in Manila to help provide plane tickets for the workers they recruited. The consulate has asked for help from the host government.
“Probably OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) will have to step in again if necessary,” he said.
Many of the stranded women were said to be overstayers whose husbands are working in the Kingdom.
One of the women was from Marawi, the Philippines’ premiere Islamic city, who lined up for the bus ride with her four children, glad to be going home after 15 years as a “TNT” in the Kingdom.
“My husband will continue working here in Jeddah but I’m going home with my children because it’s more expensive if we all stay here. Besides, I’m also tired being a TNT,” she said.
TNT is tago nang tago, a Filipino term for “always hiding.” It was first applied to Filipino illegal migrants in the United States.
Apart from the sick man from Bacolod, the stranded Pinoys included a woman six-months pregnant and a two-month old baby, the youngest in the group.
Welfare Officer Samain said those who are due for repatriation do not include the distressed women workers living at the shelter maintained by the OWWA inside the consulate, awaiting claims they have filed in Saudi labor courts against their employers.
At least 20 more people were seen milling around the consulate but officials ordered the gate closed at 6:45 p.m. after determining that everyone who wished to be repatriated had boarded the buses.
“Those people who have not boarded the buses are undecided. We can’t force them to leave if they don’t want to take this opportunity,” said one consulate staff.
Officials said the consulate is ready with food for the 350 would-be “deportees” for the next two days and some community organizations have pledged to help.
Various groups and individuals also helped feed those who have been staying inside the consulate since May 27. Many of these first gathered at the Al Kandara Bridge in a vain attempt to attract the attention of local authorities so that they could be deported.
