“We have 300 foreign staff and majority of them are Filipinos, with whom we have had a long association since our manufacturing plant in Qassim was set up in 1988,” said Ahmed Al-Rebdi, vice president for manufacturing and technical affairs of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries & Medical Appliances Corporation (SPIMACO).
SPIMACO, which reportedly has 500 staff in Buraidah, is said to have about 232 OFW employees assigned in various departments. It is also one of the biggest, if not the biggest, direct recruiters of foreign manpower in the region.
“Our Filipino staff are not only skilled and hard working but also disciplined. As a result, they have contributed much to the growth of SPIMACO as a corporation,” 53-year-old Al-Rebdi told Arab News in an interview last Saturday in his office inside the 150,000 sq. meter SPIMACO compound at the Qassim Industrial Zone in Buraidah.
Al-Rebdi started at SPIMACO as project team leader after receiving a civil engineering degree from the California State University. SPIMACO is a joint stock company with SR600 million capital.
SPIMACO has generously reciprocated the OFW’s hard work. Aside from comfortable accommodation inside the company compound in Buraidah, it has also provided them with free connection to Filipino channels like ABS-CBN, GMA 7 and TV 5 that show entertainment programs and broadcast news (in Filipino) from the Philippines. It also provides subsidized meals for lunch, in addition to complete sports facilities for lawn tennis, billiards, table tennis, gym, swimming pool, and basketball to help keep the staff healthy and physically fit.
“These are in addition to annual vacation leave with a free plane ticket to the Philippines,” said Arnold G. Pineda, technical secretary to the production manager. Nino G. Sto. Nino, senior accountant, added SPIMACO also shares profits depending on the company income.
SPIMACO has also supported the activities of its OFW staff as far as the Filipino community is concerned. Al-Rebdi said the OFW staff are organized and have formed a group called Samahan ng mga Manggagawang Pilipino sa Gassim or Organization of Filipino Workers in Qassim (SAMPIGA) which now boasts 1,000-plus members.
He said SAMPIGA had been regularly coming up with different activities like sports “to pass away time and forget loneliness for being away from their respective families who are halfway across the globe to the east.” “We know indeed how lonely it is to be separated from loved ones. That’s why SPIMACO has done its best to make them happy by helping in whatever activity they indulge in,” he said.
They have also been conducting outreach programs like medical missions in cooperation with the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh as well as the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the Central Region (POLO-CRO), the Pag-IBIG Fund and the Social Security System (SSS).
“We have tried to help them in their activities by donating drugs and medicines to OFWs who seek consultation with volunteer doctors and nurses from various government and private hospitals, polyclinics and health centers in Qassim region,” Al-Rebdi said.
The beneficiaries are OFWs working in various cities in the region like Badayah, Bukayriyah, Zulfi, Aoun, Al-Rass, Midnab and Al-Asyah, and districts like Sananah. Dionisio B. Tabuco, Jr. SPIMACO senior mechanical engineer and the president of SAMPIGA, said the company has been contributing drugs and medicine since the group was formed. Tabuco is on his second two-year term as head of the group.
“Since SAMPIGA held its first medical mission in January 2006, SPIMACO has been donating drugs and medicine which we give free of charge to OFWs who seek consultation with our medical volunteers during medical missions. We have conducted a total of 18 medical missions since the group was founded,” Tabuco said. SAMPIGA was founded in October 2005.
For the free drugs and medicine, OFW beneficiaries have been thankful. “We incur no expense when we seek consultation with the medical volunteers of SAMPIGA. We get free drugs and medicine, not to mention the fact that we forget homesickness,” an OFW told Arab News.
“Not only that, if we attend SAMPIGA’s medical mission which is the whole day, we also have free breakfast and lunch (prepared by the medical volunteers themselves) and coffee or soft drinks,” said Bob L. Latuna, a mechanic at a workshop in Al-Rass.
Tabuco said the generosity of the company generally encourages the staff, numbering around 500, to do their best by working hard, which has not escaped the notice of the top management.
Aside from SPIMACO, Tabuco added that his group had also sought the help of a sponsor, Yousof S. Cardenas of Trans-Fast, who contributes a generous amount to pay for expenses during medical missions.
“I am indeed beyond words in expressing my thanks to our company which has been very supportive all the way and Trans-Fast which unhesitatingly started supporting us when we asked for help,” he said.
Before Tran-Fast agreed to sponsor SAMPIGA’s activities, the group officers used to pool their resources to fund their projects.
“We contributed whatever amount we could. We never thought about who contributed little or much. The mantra was that we had to have an association that could enable us to help each other in times of need,” Tabuco said.
It also imposed a monthly membership fee but stopped it when Trans-Fast agreed to be its sponsor. “The idea was to help and not to make money. That’s why we stopped collecting monthly dues,” he said.
“For these reasons, the officers of SAMPIGA thank all those who have been wholeheartedly helping us in one way or another as we undertake our projects,” Tabuco added.
With SAMPIGA’s regular missions, during which OFWs could relate with and interact with one another, they have become not acquaintances but virtually one big family.
“If a member is in need financially, the members voluntarily contribute whatever amount they could and they do so without question,” an OFW said.
Yousuf N. Lubid, SAMPIGA executive, said that as member of the group since it was started, he has seen how it has made a difference to the lives of OFWs. He expressed sincere thanks to two women employees at the Maternity & Children’s Hospital (MCH) who had always supported the group. The pair will leave the Kingdom for good on Dec. 12.
“I sincerely thank Sheeham Jaljis and Desiree Sampang who are leaving shortly for the Philippines to seek greener pastures elsewhere. They have been with us unfailingly since SAMPIGA was founded and have never missed any medical mission which SAMPIGA conducted,” Lubid said.
