Jinggoy asks Arroyo to help stranded Pinoys in Jeddah

Senate President Pro Tempore Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada on Tuesday asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to immediately order the repatriation of 11 Filipinos who have remained stranded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the past several months.

In a statement, Estrada noted that the Filipinos, including children, have been staying under the Kandara District flyover, waiting and hoping that Saudi police arrest them and subsequently have them deported to the Philippines.

"These Filipinos have become seemingly helpless in their situation after running away from employers who either inflicted physical harm on them, did not pay their salaries in full, violated their work contracts, or even tried to molest a number of them including their children," Estrada said.

A former presidential son, Estrada is concurrent chair of the Senate committee on Labor and of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment.

Estrada cited reports that the concerned Filipinos were victims of "fixers" who collected "fees" from them in amounts ranging from 500 Saudi Riyals (equivalent to about P5,529) to SR 2,500 (P27,646), in exchange for a promised "backdoor exit" from Jeddah.

It turned out, however, that the Filipinos were merely dropped off near the Al-Khandara flyover supposedly to wait to be picked up by immigration agents for deportation.

At the same time, the senator expressed alarm over reports by the Saudi Arabia chapter of the group Migrante International, that some of the stranded Filipinos trooped to the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah to appeal for help but were told that they have to observe "due process" for their repatriation, claiming that they were "illegals" since they escaped from their employers.

"First and foremost, they are Filipinos, and mostly comprising of workers who contribute to our economy. Secondly, they have their valid reasons for abandoning their employer-hosts. Our government must now immediately repatriate these Filipinos...include the workers among them in our reintegration program, evaluate their skills, and, help them find alternative jobs here in the country," Estrada said.

Last year, almost a hundred Filipinos stranded under the bridge were repatriated through the diplomatic intervention of then Concul General Pendosina Lomondot. - GMANews.TV

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