59 more undocumented OFWs arrive home from Saudi Arabia

Fifty-nine more undocumented OFWs arrived in the Philippines from Saudi Arabia over the weekend after they availed of the amnesty offered by the Saudi Arabian government.
The 59 left Jeddah on Friday via a Philippine Airlines flight and arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) the following day.
Among the batch were three OFWs who have a lingering illness.
"Ihahatid po natin sa Manila ang tatlo nating kababayan na pawang mga maysakit tulad ng diabetes at sakit sa puso," said Meann Hipe of the Assistance to National Section and a registered nurse.
The 59 were allowed to leave Jeddah after they received their exit visas.
Some OFWs who were interviewed by GMA News before leaving Jeddah said they no longer intend to go back to Saudi Arabia.
"Namamanhid na ang kalahati kong katawan kaya habang kaya pa ay uuwi na ako. Saka excited na akong makita ang aking nag-iisang anak na lalake at ang aking mga apo," said Nelia Malikdam, a caregiver.
At present, some 5,000 undocumented OFWs in Jeddah have already applied for amnesty offered by Saudi Arabia to illegally staying foreigners. Of these, 2,332 already received their exit visa and are just awaiting their plane tickets, which are paid for by the government. —Ronaldo Concha/KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russia captures town after 2 years of Ukrainian resistance --- Reuters

Russian forces now control 98.5% of Luhansk, 60% of Donetsk MOSCOW: Russian troops on Wednesday took charge of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Russia launched its full-scale assault in 2022. The advance of Moscow's forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, has underlined Russia's vast superiority in men and materiel as Ukraine pleads for more weapons from the Western allies that have been supporting it. Ukraine's eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops and "preserve personnel and military equipment". The Russian defense ministry did not mention Vuhledar in its daily battlefield report. Russian Telegram channels, however, published video of troops waving the Russian tricolor flag over shattered buildings. The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Vietnam condemns China's 'brutal behavior' in fisher attack ---- Agence France-Presse

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam's foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday China's "brutal behavior" during a violent attack on Vietnamese fishers in the disputed South China Sea. The 10 fishermen were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars' worth of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands -- an archipelago in the resource-rich waterway claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Vietnam "resolutely protests the brutal behavior of Chinese law enforcement forces against Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels operating in the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam", foreign ministry spokesperson Vietnam Pham Thu Hang said in a statement, using the Vietnamese term for the Paracel Islands. "The above actions of Chinese law enforcement forces seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty" over the archipelago, the statement said. Four of the Vietnamese crew were taken to hospital on Monday
Read more