The women, all of them residing illegally in the country, left the Kingdom with their children aboard a Philippine Airlines flight, according to Philippine Embassy Charge d'Affaires Ezzedin H. Tago. The women had been at the shelter for as long as four years.
“The need to repatriate them had been necessitated by the fact that the kids were growing. Some of them were almost of school age,” said Welfare Officer Nestor T. Burayag.
The women's repatriation was made possible through the assistance of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), headed by Labor Attaché Albert Valenciano, the office of Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman and local authorities.
“The POLO-OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) staff and the wards at the BK, including the mothers with children, are like one big happy family. We were a little bit sad when they left,” said Burayag. “The kids had been endeared to the staff but it was better that they had to go home to the Philippines not only to have a normal life but also to start going to school.”
He said that the embassy and POLO-OWWA are also following up the cases of the remaining six women with seven children for their repatriation. One of the women has two kids.
In Alkhobar, eight runaway women with 11 kids were also repatriated this week. They arrived in Manila on Monday aboard a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from Dammam.
