“This would ensure that any OFW facing a legal problem would have a lawyer to defend him in court, as at present lawyers are hired on a case-to-case basis,” John Leonard Monterona, Migrante’s Middle East regional coordinator, told Arab News on Wednesday. He said the current arrangement was not attractive to lawyers because it does not ensure a regular income.
Migrante made the plea when the embassy failed to hire a lawyer to defend a 50-year-old OFW who had been detained at Dammam Reformatory Jail for around two years. “I called the embassy about the case of the OFW. I was told the embassy had sent a letter to a number of local lawyers regarding the case but nobody responded,” Monterona said.
The OFW was working as a warehouse manager for a ready-mix concrete company. After 15 years, he decided to resign and go home to the Philippines for good. He wrote a resignation letter requesting the company to pay him his dues, including end of service benefits, which he calculated to be about SR1 million.
“According to the OFW, his employer rejected his resignation and got angry with him. He learned later on that the company filed an embezzlement case against him after conducting an ‘audit’ of its warehouse,” Monterona said.
Monterona said the OFW’s sister, who had referred the case to Migrante, vouched for her brother’s honesty and capacity for hard work, which led to his promotion. He added that at present, Philippine diplomatic missions in the Middle East not only hire lawyers on a case-to-case basis, but also need the approval of the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs.
