OFW tent camp in front of PHL Jeddah consulate removed

Saudi authorities on Tuesday removed a tent camp for stranded Filipino workers that had been standing for more than six months near the Philippine consulate in Jeddah.

The camp had been set up on a vacant lot in the Rehab district since April 11, according to a report on Arab News on Wednesday.

“We have shifted OFWs inside the tents to other shelters. Women and children have been shifted to shelter houses inside the consulate,” the Arab News report quoted Philippine Consul General Uriel Garibay as saying.

The Arab News report quoted sources as saying the evacuation of OFWs from the camp started Monday evening amid tight security.

It said a team from Jeddah’s municipality used a bulldozer backed by trucks to clear the site, which at one time accommodated as many as 1,500 OFWs.

Most of the runaway OFWs who sought refuge at the camp had been women and infants from the Eastern and Central provinces, who sought repatriation.

Earlier, Philippine Consulate officials transferred women and infants to shelters inside the consulate. They offered the others accommodation in other areas.

But the Arab News report said many Filipinos would not move out, supposedly in part to pressure the consulate to speed up their repatriation. — LBG, GMA News

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