Saudi OFWs divided over 'zero remittance' move vs. 'pork' PDF Print E-mail Written by Administrator

Overseas Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia are divided over a militant group's call to hold a "zero remittance day" to push for the abolition of the pork barrel system, a Saudi news site reported Sunday. “The call for OFWs not to remit money to their respective families on Sept. 19 is not timely because by that time, it’s not yet payday so there’s no money to remit,” engineer Dionisio Tabuco Jr., president of the Association of Filipino Workers in Qassim, told Arab News.
Riyadh-based OFW Congress president Alex Bello also said that the call to suspend remittances is "the height of extremism."
“We came here for our respective families and now we’re being asked to suspend remittance to them in protest of the alleged irregularities committed by our lawmakers,” he said.

On the other hand, “If the call is made to prevent lawmakers from misusing the funds allocated to them under the PDAF, then I support the call for a Zero Remittance Day on Sept. 19,” said Al Khobar-based Florante Catanus, former president of the Saudi Arabia Hiligaynon Inc. (SAHI).

Earlier, militant OFW group Migrante called for a Zero Remittance Day on Sept. 19 to oppose the pork barrel system.
It claimed its chapters in some territories, including Hong Kong, had committed to support the “Zero Remittance Day.”

Several Filipinos had voiced outrage over the abuse of the pork barrel system following reports of a P10-billion scam involving fake non-government organizations siphoning funds from some lawmakers' Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations.

President Benigno Aquino III called for the abolition of the PDAF but said he wants a replacement mechanism for it.

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