Pauwiin ang mga stranded OFWs sa Saudi Arabia

Pauwiin ang mga stranded OFWs sa Saudi Arabia

By Rep. Teddy Casiño
Bayan Muna

(Privilege Speech delivered before the House of Representatives February 7, 2011)

Mr. Speaker, I rise to avail of the privilege hour to speak on the problems confronting our distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) particularly the stranded workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, the House gave recognition to a model OFW family. It is indeed ironic that even as we speak, 314 of our countrymen, including 79 children, are stranded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, camped out in makeshift tents under a bridge near the Philippine Consulate, wanting to go home, pleading for help from our government. These are OFWs most of whom have abandoned their jobs due to maltreatment, violence and other abuses from their foreign employers.

In the last two weeks, concerned Filipinos from abroad have sent me frantic emails detailing the inhuman conditioons of our countrymen who are now totally dependent on the goodwill and charity of fellow Filipinos and some kind hearted Arabs. In all their messages, there is one common observation – that our consulate is not doing enough to help and worse, that our officials abroad are partly responsible for making the situation of our OFW’s worse than they already are.

Our 1.5 million compatriots who work as OFWs in Saudi Arabia remit US$1.3 billion annually to the country. This is a big chunk of the average annual total of US$15 billion remittances that our Filipino compatriots working and residing abroad remit to the Philippine homeland.

But what does government do to the downtrodden, abused, maltreated and mistreated OFW who runs away from his or her evil employers? These OFWs who have lost their jobs have been reduced to begging under a bridge or beside the wall of our consular office in Jeddah.

Mr. Speaker, ano ba ang ginagawa ng ating mga consular officials sa Jeddah at Saudi Arabia? We have heard enough horror stories not only about the abuses and inhuman working conditions of our workers there but the arrogance and incompetence of our embassy officials. To them we say bring home our distressed kababayans now.

But this is not only a problem of uncaring and incompetent consular officials. This is a problem of a wrong policy made worse. And in this crime against our OFW’s we find the Aquino government just as negligent as the previous administrations.

The national budget for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) – the country’s lead agency for foreign policy – is quite small. Let me correct myself, it is not small but infinitesimal – lubhang napakaliit kumpara sa mga kontribusyon at sakripisyo ng ating mga kababayang napilitang lumabas ng bansa para maghanapbuhay.

The DFA originally requested a budget of P19 billion for its 2011 operations, but I understand the DBM only approved P10.9 billion.

This means our kababayans in Saudi Arabia and thousands of distressed overseas Filipinos elsewhere are facing a tough 2011 in terms of getting government assistance after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) slashed by 42.6 percent the budget sought by the DFA.

Section 18 of R.A. 10022 or the Amended Migrant Workers’ Act provides for an allotment of P100 million for the legal assistance fund (LAF), of which P50 million shall be taken from the President’s contingency fund, P30 million from the President’s social fund, and P20 million from the Overseas Workers Welfare Fund.

Pres. Aquino reduced the LAF for OFWs from P50 million ($1.14 million) to only P27 million ($616 thousand) from his contingency fund. This is a gross violation of the Migrant Workers Act, which mandates that the DFA must allot at least P100 million ($2.28 million) for the repatriation, medical assistance and other welfare services for OFWs in distress. The Assistance to Nationals (ATN) fund of DFA, on the other hand, has been reduced to P87 million ($1.986 million) from P100 million ($2.28 million).

It is important to note that apart from daily consular and diplomatic services, the DFA is helping some 7,000 Filipinos jailed around the world including 230 involving the death sentence.

Kayat sa tingin ng representasyong ito, hindi lang sa di-sapat ang badyet, ngunit ang mas malaking usapin ay kung tama ba ang oryentasyon at institutional na aksyon na ginagawa ng estado para matulungan, maproteksyunan at mapauwi ang ating mga kababayang nasadlak sa mas malubhang kahirapan sa Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Speaker, as of February 4, 2011, the DFA claims to have repatriated 102 stranded Filipinos, including 29 children from Jeddah. But a large number of Filipino stranded workers are now in a new makeshift camp with their families they set up outside the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah.

Our stranded compatriots demand repatriation after losing work, running away from abusive employers who substituted their contracts or refused to pay salaries, and finding help from kind hearted individuals – least from the consulate. They lived and slept under the King Fahd Bridge and the Khandara overpass but got tired and worried after the rains came.

A majority of the stranded Filipinos have no legal or valid documents for various reasons. But this can be remedied if our diplomatic post provides all relevant legal documents to Saudi authorities for them to easily give them exit visas.

It is a wonder why the Consulate in Jeddah takes so long to do so. It is no wonder that the migrant’s group Migrante International and its chapters in Saudi Arabia tirelessly hound and call the attention of the Philippine posts in the kingdom to attend to the plight of our stranded OFWs.

Government says it has the best work migration model envied by other labor-exporting countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand. Kung ito na ang best model, talagang kawawa naman ang ating mga kababayan.

Mr. Speaker. There are hundreds, even thousands of sad stories of OFWs from Saudi Arabia. Mayroong nga tayong Amended Migrant Workers Act, ngunit binabali nga mismo ng Presidente ang mga probisyon ng batas hinggil sa badyet para sa serbisyo sa mga OFWs.

We indeed have that law and other related issuances by concerned government agencies like the DOLE, OWWA and POEA. But still the horror stories of despair, abuse and hopelessness of distressed OFWs in Saudi Arabia continue. Ibig sabihin po nito, government is simply not doing enough on the executive front to remedy and resolve the situation.

Kung patuloy po ang gubyerno sa kanyang patakarang labor export, hindi ito dapat mangiming maglatag ng pinakamahusay na programang pamproteksyon at maglaan ng pinakamainam na badyet para ipatupad ito bilang minimal na programa sa ilalim ng foreign policy ng Pilipinas na dapat protektahan, ipaglaban at bigyang prayoridad ang lahat ng Pilipino sa lahat ng sitwasyon sa labas ng bansa.

Para sa mga stranded na kababayan natin sa Saudi Arabia, ang pinakamahusay na dapat gawin ng gubyerno ng Pilipinas ay bilisan ang pag-asikaso sa mga gustong makauwi na sa Pilipinas – bigyan ng travel document nang makapagharap agad ang Konsulado sa Saudi authorities nang makakuha na ng exit visa ang lahat ng gustong umuwi.

At hanggang hindi nagagawa ng gubyerno na lumikha ng marangal na trabaho, magtaas ng suweldo, magpatupad ng seguridad sa trabaho sa mga empleyado at manggagawa at bigyang diin ang pag-aruga sa kanila, asahan na natin na magiging araw-araw na trabaho ng mga konsulado at embahada sa Saudi Arabia ang pagharap sa mga stranded OFWs at kanilang mga pangangailangan at hiling na makauwi.
Ginoong Speaker, no ifs, no buts ang esensya ng government service. Dapat harapin at tulungan ng todo-todo ng mga konsulado at embahada ang mga kababayan natin na napilitang iwan ang kanilang mga pamilya para magtrabaho sa ibayong dagat.

Ginoong Speaker, mga kagalang-galang na kasama, dapat pauwiin na ang ating mga stranded na kababayan mula sa Saudi Arabia. Hindi po sila pumunta doon para lamang maging iskwater sa ilalim ng tulay o sa tabi ng pader.

Umaapila ko sa kapulungang ito na agad na umaksyon dito. Huwag lang sana imbestigasyon kundi kagyat na aksyon ang ating gawin para agad na mapauwi ang ating mga kababayan sa Jeddah. For once, lets go beyond nice sounding resolutions and platitudes and actually do something to bring home our distressed and stranded Filipinos in Jeddah.

Maraming salamat po