More than 100 Filipinos, mostly from Riyadh and Dammam, have camped out at the vicinity of the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah in the wake of the three-month grace period for transferring sponsorship. Some of them are with their families.

Hundreds of OFWs have become undocumented over the years in Saudi Arabia due to unsettled labor problems with their sponsors.

In a telephone conversation, the Philippine consul general confirmed to Arab News that more than 50 percent of those at the consulate were from Riyadh and Dammam. He called on Saudi sponsors to cooperate with the mission to provide a no-objection certificate in order for them to take the necessary steps to correct their status.

“The first step now is to release them or issue no-objection letters” Consul General Norman R. Garibay told Arab News, while asking for the cooperation of sponsors, adding that the situation has become dire.

The photos of these Filipinos, including women and children camping out under the sun, were posted on many social networking sites and many sympathetic OFW groups have begun a campaign that would expedite the process of the repatriation of those workers and their families.

In a recent statement from Migrante-Middle East (M-ME), Regional Coordinator John Leonard Monterona said there are at least 300 workers outside the Philippine Embassy in Jeddah, with 75 others inside the premises.

He said that more stranded workers are joining those camping out.

Bobby Fajarito, Migrante-Jeddah vice chairperson and spokesman of the Jeddah Filipino Society, has visited the site to verify the presence of OFWs.

“The stranded, especially women with children, have asked for food, water and other basic needs. We will try our best to provide what we can while we call on vonsulate officials to provide for their needs,” Fajarito added.

Monterona said government funds allocated for OFWs’ repatriation should be used now.

“There is a repatriation fund allotted by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), an adjunct agency to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE),” Monterona said, and added that the government should instruct the DFA and Philippine diplomatic posts to arrange with Saudi immigration authorities for the repatriation of the

workers.

“It would be better if the administration, through the DFA, helps us lobby the host government for granting general amnesty and fast-track the repatriation of all undocumented OFWs, prioritizing women and their children,” Monterona said.