Stranded Pinoys in UAE border nix repatriation

MANILA, Philippines - Hundreds of Filipino workers who remain stranded in the Oman-United Arab Emirates border refuse to be repatriated, hoping that the UAE government will soon approve their re-entry, according to an official from the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Crescente Relacion, executive director of the DFA’s migrant workers’ affairs office, said the 1,000 Filipino workers did not want to return to the Philippine just yet.

“They don’t want to be repatriated, most of them are still staying on Kish Island ( in Iran) and in Al-Buraimi ( in Oman)," Relacion told GMANews.TV in an interview on Monday.

According to Relacion, although the DFA’s Assistance to Nationals (ATN) fund is ready for the massive repatriation of the stranded workers, they can do little in persuading the Filipinos to return home.

The DFA official, who just arrived from UAE, reported that the Filipino workers paid for their own hotels along the Oman-UAE border after their visit visas expired last July 29.

Filipino workers often use visit visas to work in the oil-rich region. Many Filipinos were forced to leave UAE after it implemented on July 29 a new visit visa law that requires previous visa holders to reapply as tourists, resulting in the rejection of thousands of visa applications from Filipinos.

The visit visa procedure has become the means for many Filipinos to find work in the Middle East without the costly and difficult process of the normal hiring process being implemented by the government.

Last year, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency blacklisted a Jeddah-based supermarket chain for hiring Filipino workers under the visit visa scheme.

There had been varying reports on the number of stranded Filipinos outside the UAE, but the DFA only confirmed that about 1,000 OFWs were affected by the change in UAE’s visa policies.

DFA undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr earlier said that the department would request the UAE to address the issue faced by stranded Filipinos.

A four-man consulate team from the embassy in Muscat had been dispatched to Al Buraimi, along the Oman-UAE border to help the Filipinos.

Cristobal said the Filipinos were warned since March this year about the change in UAE’s visa rules. “(The decision to repatriate the OFWs) will depend on how the UAE government responds to our request for leniency," Conejos told GMANews.TV in an earlier interview.

The UAE is one of the top destination countries for OFWs who often take jobs there as construction workers, domestic helpers, and registered nurses. - MARK JOSEPH H. UBALDE, GMANews.TV

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