DFA verifying reports arrest of 30 Pinoys in Saudi's illegal worker crackdown
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday said it is verifying reports that 30 Filipinos were arrested in the ongoing illegal migrant crackdown in Saudi Arabia.
This development comes a day after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said there have been no Filipinos affected yet in the crackdown.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh has not monitored any arrests of Filipinos violating the new and amended Saudi labor law, but the consulate in Jeddah has heard reports that 30 Filipinos have been rounded up by authorities.
“We don’t have confirmation of this yet. We are still trying to get confirmation on this report as of this time,” Hernandez said in a press briefing.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia – home to more than one million Filipino documented and undocumented workers – have recently raided offices and put up immigration checkpoints across the country as part of its efforts to clear its labor force of illegal workers.
Hernandez asked Filipino workers to obey and observe the regulations for work and residency permits or Iqamas of Saudi Arabia and advised them to renew these on time.
In Saudi, employers of foreign workers are the ones responsible for renewing the permits of their employees.
Workers without proper documents run the risk of imprisonment, fines, subsequent deportation and will be banned from entering the kingdom in the future.
Hernandez encouraged Filipino workers to seek the assistance of the embassy or consulate should their employers fail to renew their permits.
“If they have issues with the Saudi government with respect to those laws then what they can do is to ask the help of our embassy so that they can be assisted as far as the renewal of their Iqamas or their repatriation back to the Philippines,” Hernandez said.
Crackdown on illegal workers
On Wednesday, the DOLE said that so far, no Filipinos have been affected by the ongoing crackdown.
Likewise, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said despite several reports of workers from various countries being banned in Saudi as a result of the crackdown, there have been no details as of now about a similar fate involving Filipinos.
According to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas' 2011 Stock Estimate of Overseas Filipinos, there were around 20,000 undocumented Pinoys in Saudi Arabia that year.
On the other hand, an estimated 1,530,218 Filipinos were listed that year whose stay in the country was work-related.
Saudi Arabia was also listed as the second top destination country of Filipinos in that list.
Affected Pinoys
Meanwhile, party-list and migrant workers advocates group Migrante on Thursday released a statement saying the group already has data of Filipinos affected by the crackdown.
“They are either in deportation centers, in jail or in fear of their lives and welfare. Only the PH embassy is allowed access to deportation centers and jails. Kung naghihintay pa rin sila hanggang ngayong ng so-called guidelines, we have a bigger problem on our hands,” said chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado.
The group also said the current operations in Saudi are being done, among others, to stop further protests against rising unemployment in the kingdom.
American publication Wall Street Journal published an article on Monday about the Saudi crackdown, where it noted that the country's reliance on cheap foreign labor has "crippled the kingdom's private sector."
It also noted that the kingdom already has the world's second-highest level of youth employment.
The report said there are around eight million workers in Saudi employed legally, and cited some estimates that there around two million to three million illegal ones.
- Gian C. Geronimo and Michaela del Callar, VVP/BM, GMA News
This development comes a day after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said there have been no Filipinos affected yet in the crackdown.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh has not monitored any arrests of Filipinos violating the new and amended Saudi labor law, but the consulate in Jeddah has heard reports that 30 Filipinos have been rounded up by authorities.
“We don’t have confirmation of this yet. We are still trying to get confirmation on this report as of this time,” Hernandez said in a press briefing.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia – home to more than one million Filipino documented and undocumented workers – have recently raided offices and put up immigration checkpoints across the country as part of its efforts to clear its labor force of illegal workers.
Hernandez asked Filipino workers to obey and observe the regulations for work and residency permits or Iqamas of Saudi Arabia and advised them to renew these on time.
In Saudi, employers of foreign workers are the ones responsible for renewing the permits of their employees.
Workers without proper documents run the risk of imprisonment, fines, subsequent deportation and will be banned from entering the kingdom in the future.
Hernandez encouraged Filipino workers to seek the assistance of the embassy or consulate should their employers fail to renew their permits.
“If they have issues with the Saudi government with respect to those laws then what they can do is to ask the help of our embassy so that they can be assisted as far as the renewal of their Iqamas or their repatriation back to the Philippines,” Hernandez said.
Crackdown on illegal workers
On Wednesday, the DOLE said that so far, no Filipinos have been affected by the ongoing crackdown.
Likewise, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said despite several reports of workers from various countries being banned in Saudi as a result of the crackdown, there have been no details as of now about a similar fate involving Filipinos.
According to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas' 2011 Stock Estimate of Overseas Filipinos, there were around 20,000 undocumented Pinoys in Saudi Arabia that year.
On the other hand, an estimated 1,530,218 Filipinos were listed that year whose stay in the country was work-related.
Saudi Arabia was also listed as the second top destination country of Filipinos in that list.
Affected Pinoys
Meanwhile, party-list and migrant workers advocates group Migrante on Thursday released a statement saying the group already has data of Filipinos affected by the crackdown.
“They are either in deportation centers, in jail or in fear of their lives and welfare. Only the PH embassy is allowed access to deportation centers and jails. Kung naghihintay pa rin sila hanggang ngayong ng so-called guidelines, we have a bigger problem on our hands,” said chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado.
The group also said the current operations in Saudi are being done, among others, to stop further protests against rising unemployment in the kingdom.
American publication Wall Street Journal published an article on Monday about the Saudi crackdown, where it noted that the country's reliance on cheap foreign labor has "crippled the kingdom's private sector."
It also noted that the kingdom already has the world's second-highest level of youth employment.
The report said there are around eight million workers in Saudi employed legally, and cited some estimates that there around two million to three million illegal ones.
- Gian C. Geronimo and Michaela del Callar, VVP/BM, GMA News
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