DFA: 644 Pinoys to be deported from Saudi 'willingly submitted', not arrested

Tags: Saudi Arabia
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) made clear Tuesday that 644 Filipinos, including 455 women and 189 children, waiting to be deported from Saudi Arabia submitted to proceedings on their own.

DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said this in reaction to a report last Sunday that Filipinos were picked up by Jeddah police and passport officials outside the Philippine Consulate in the Rehab district.
 
Hernandez said these individuals "willingly submitted" themselves for deportation and were not corralled.

He said preparations to send these Filipinos back started on November 9 but that the actual transfer of these people to the deportation center occurred November 10.
 
"Ten buses, eight rented by the Consulate General and two provided by Saudi Immigration, were immediately fielded to bring the women and children to the deportation center... They were provided with food and water and each bus had a Consulate representative on board," said Hernandez.

They are now at the al-Shumaisi deportation center in Riyadh.
 
Only women and children were brought aboard the buses. Men were advised by Saudi authorities to wait "two or three more days more," Hernandez said.

Hernandez could not say when the Filipinos will be sent back to the Philippines but cited a Saudi government press release that said proceedings take 48 hours. 

"Our Consulate General is constantly following this up to ensure that those admitted will be deported in the shortest possible time," he said.
 
An earlier batch of undocumented Filipinos arrived Monday, November 11, on two separate flights. These 37 individuals join 4,653 people repatriated from Saudi Arabia since the crackdown started on November 3.
 
The DFA previously denied claims that 15 undocumented workers were arrested by Saudi authorities, adding embassy teams monitoring the Greater Riyadh area on November 9 and 10 found no Filipinos being held in police stations there.
 
The DFA has said, however, that over 157,000 Filipinos were able to correct their statuses during the amnesty period given by the Saudi government.

Another 38,939 Filipinos, including workers at the end of their contracts, took advantage of the reprieve on a crackdown on illegal migrant workers to leave the country. — Rie Takumi/JDS, GMA News

Tags: Saudi Arabia

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