OFW group dares Arroyo to visit distressed Pinoys in Middle East
MANILA, Philippines-A Middle East-based migrant workers’ group urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday to consider visiting Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after her three-day trip to Hong Kong this week and “offer her heart" to the deplorable conditions of the stranded and abused overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the oil-rich countries.
“We are urging Mrs. Arroyo to visit personally, more than anything else, our distressed and runaway OFWs in all deportations centers and Bahay Kalingas, and in jails in the Middle East," said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East (Migrante-ME) regional coordinator.
He also challenged the President to channel the alleged P2-million cost of her HK visit to programs that would benefit distressed OFWs.
"The entire Filipino nation and 10 million OFWs along with their families will be more than happy if Mrs. Arroyo could wisely spend this P2-million Hong Kong visit for the protection and advancement of our fellow OFWs’ rights and welfare especially those who are stranded, runaways and jailed in the Middle East," Monterona asserted.
The protesters, mostly domestic workers, gathered Sunday outside the five-star Grand Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong where Arroyo was billeted.
They chanted slogans like "Gloria Arroyo step down" and "Oust Arroyo" to denounce anomalies including the participation of Arroyo’s family members and close allies to the alleged overpricing of the now canceled $329.48-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project with China ’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp.
The President arrived in HK on March 30 and is scheduled to come back to the Philippines on April 1.
For Monterona’s part, Arroyo’s visit to the Middle East would enable her to “look into these OFWs’ very eyes (and find out) how they are suffering from their dire situations."
“They were unpaid on their hard labor, they were sexually harassed and raped, they were abused, their beings degraded, some of them were sick and inflicted with AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), some of them mysteriously died in the hand’s of errant employers, worst, Embassy officials pimped them, extorted them, neglected them, and many even thrown back to their employer’s cruelty, “Monterona claimed.
The group also assailed Philippine embassy officials in the Middle East for “sanitizing" reports on the real situation of the OFWs thus preventing the President from knowing the “the case of the 125 stranded OFWs in Jeddah, 30 OFWs scrounging trash to look for their food, and OFWs on death row like Dondon Lanuza."
“And then during her visit in the Middle East, she can arrange for a diplomatic talk with the Saudi Government to explore the issuances of exit clearances of all the distressed, stranded OFWs; and for the jailed OFWs, she could ask for His Highness Saudi King’s forgiveness or clemency," Monterona added.
The distressed Filipinos started trooping to the embassy for assistance in facilitating their exit documentation on May 27, 2007, or just four days before the end of a two-month amnesty offered by the Saudi Arabian government for thousands of illegal workers in the Kingdom to regularize their status or leave voluntarily.
Most of the Filipinos, particularly those who absconded from their employers, did not want to go through the legal process of repatriation. They wanted to be summarily deported for overstaying their religious visa, but the Philippine embassy and consulate officials refused to agree, saying it would strain diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
Later, the stranded OFWs eventually agreed to go through the legal repatriation process, but after a month, they expressed dismay over the slow pace of their documentation.
In early February, more than a hundred Filipino sought shelter under the Al-Khandara flyover then moved to a nearby bridge while waiting for the immigration police to pick them up and process for deportation.
After several weeks under the bridge, at least 74 Filipinos trooped to the Philippine consulate and set up tents there. Several days later, they were brought to the deportation center for processing.
Monterona suggested that if ever Arroyo succeeds in repatriating the Filipinos in the Middle East, she should come back to the country, hold a press conference and confess to the public for her injustices to the OFWs.
“She could have her own press conference in Malacañang with her Press Secretary [Ignacio] Bunye, telling the members of the media how she felt sorry for the jailed, distressed and stranded OFWs, her numerous neglect and unpardonable disservice to OFWs and confessing all her “sins" to the Filipino people; there and then which will be the most historic of all, announce her stepping down from the presidency as she is a fake, most corrupt, anti-OFW, anti-people President," advised Monterona. – GMANews.TV
“We are urging Mrs. Arroyo to visit personally, more than anything else, our distressed and runaway OFWs in all deportations centers and Bahay Kalingas, and in jails in the Middle East," said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East (Migrante-ME) regional coordinator.
He also challenged the President to channel the alleged P2-million cost of her HK visit to programs that would benefit distressed OFWs.
"The entire Filipino nation and 10 million OFWs along with their families will be more than happy if Mrs. Arroyo could wisely spend this P2-million Hong Kong visit for the protection and advancement of our fellow OFWs’ rights and welfare especially those who are stranded, runaways and jailed in the Middle East," Monterona asserted.
The protesters, mostly domestic workers, gathered Sunday outside the five-star Grand Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong where Arroyo was billeted.
They chanted slogans like "Gloria Arroyo step down" and "Oust Arroyo" to denounce anomalies including the participation of Arroyo’s family members and close allies to the alleged overpricing of the now canceled $329.48-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project with China ’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp.
The President arrived in HK on March 30 and is scheduled to come back to the Philippines on April 1.
For Monterona’s part, Arroyo’s visit to the Middle East would enable her to “look into these OFWs’ very eyes (and find out) how they are suffering from their dire situations."
“They were unpaid on their hard labor, they were sexually harassed and raped, they were abused, their beings degraded, some of them were sick and inflicted with AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), some of them mysteriously died in the hand’s of errant employers, worst, Embassy officials pimped them, extorted them, neglected them, and many even thrown back to their employer’s cruelty, “Monterona claimed.
The group also assailed Philippine embassy officials in the Middle East for “sanitizing" reports on the real situation of the OFWs thus preventing the President from knowing the “the case of the 125 stranded OFWs in Jeddah, 30 OFWs scrounging trash to look for their food, and OFWs on death row like Dondon Lanuza."
“And then during her visit in the Middle East, she can arrange for a diplomatic talk with the Saudi Government to explore the issuances of exit clearances of all the distressed, stranded OFWs; and for the jailed OFWs, she could ask for His Highness Saudi King’s forgiveness or clemency," Monterona added.
The distressed Filipinos started trooping to the embassy for assistance in facilitating their exit documentation on May 27, 2007, or just four days before the end of a two-month amnesty offered by the Saudi Arabian government for thousands of illegal workers in the Kingdom to regularize their status or leave voluntarily.
Most of the Filipinos, particularly those who absconded from their employers, did not want to go through the legal process of repatriation. They wanted to be summarily deported for overstaying their religious visa, but the Philippine embassy and consulate officials refused to agree, saying it would strain diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
Later, the stranded OFWs eventually agreed to go through the legal repatriation process, but after a month, they expressed dismay over the slow pace of their documentation.
In early February, more than a hundred Filipino sought shelter under the Al-Khandara flyover then moved to a nearby bridge while waiting for the immigration police to pick them up and process for deportation.
After several weeks under the bridge, at least 74 Filipinos trooped to the Philippine consulate and set up tents there. Several days later, they were brought to the deportation center for processing.
Monterona suggested that if ever Arroyo succeeds in repatriating the Filipinos in the Middle East, she should come back to the country, hold a press conference and confess to the public for her injustices to the OFWs.
“She could have her own press conference in Malacañang with her Press Secretary [Ignacio] Bunye, telling the members of the media how she felt sorry for the jailed, distressed and stranded OFWs, her numerous neglect and unpardonable disservice to OFWs and confessing all her “sins" to the Filipino people; there and then which will be the most historic of all, announce her stepping down from the presidency as she is a fake, most corrupt, anti-OFW, anti-people President," advised Monterona. – GMANews.TV
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