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MIGRANT
WATCH
Jailed
and Stranded OFWs in Saudi:
Forgotten
Heroes
Overseas
Filipino workers (OFWs) Eddie Tutor of Davao and Virgilio Galicia of Leyte, both
detained at the Failsaliah jail in Riyadh, need size 32 pants. Arrested on Sept.
2 in Jeddah for allegedly selling stolen diesel, they have worn the same pants
and shirts ever since.
BY
MAITA SANTIAGO
Contributed to Bulatlat.com
Edgar
Cadano, a Saudi-based OFW, appealed for help on their behalf in an email sent to
Migrante International, an alliance of 82 organizations.
“They
can bathe but they have no clothes to change into,” Cadano told Migrante.
“They can wash their t-shirts and wait for them to dry before wearing them but
they can’t do this with their pants… Does anyone have a pair of old pants
and large shirts they could send?”
Cadano
is an active member of Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan (KGS), an organization of
OFWs in the Middle East and member of Migrante. He recently visited different
jails and deportation centers in Saudi as part of KGS’s advocacy efforts for
the OFWs.
Jailed
OFWs
At
the Malaz jail, Cadano met with other OFWs facing murder charges, including
Primo Gasmen, Sabiano Yncierto, Rey Cortez and Alfred Barroga.
According
to Cadano, Gasmen will be executed next year if he is unable to raise US $15,000
in blood money. A native of Pangasinan, he was imprisoned in 1999 for allegedly
killing a Nepalese co-worker. Blood money is the payment required by the
victim’s family in exchange for the freedom of the accused.
Yncierto,
on the other hand, needs to produce P500,000, also for blood money.
Another
detainee, Barroga, was for a time presumed dead by the Philippine Embassy in
Saudi, according to Cadano. Barroga was apparently placed under solitary
confinement for almost two years and could not communicate with anyone.
Migrante
revealed there are 44 OFWs in various jails in Saudi facing the possibility of
being beheaded unless the Philippine government intervenes.
“We
urge the Department of Foreign Affairs to actively monitor and intervene in the
cases of the imprisoned OFWs, especially those on Death Row,” said Poe Gratela,
Migrante secretary-general.
Gratela
cited the cases of three OFWs recently declared innocent of murder charges. Lito
Alejo of Bulacan, Romeo Cordova of Cavite and Ramiro Esmero of Laguna, charged
with killing a Saudi Arabian policeman and imprisoned for almost six years, were
all declared innocent last July. But they remain behind bars, waiting for
Saudi’s Court of Cassation for Clearance to process their release papers.
President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo even visited Alejo’s wife and promised he would be
home in five weeks. That was 13 weeks ago.
Alvin
Perez, who suffers from goiter, is another imprisoned OFW who should have come
home long ago. Cadano said Perez has already served his sentence but the
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is yet to give him his plane
ticket home.
Stranded
OFWs: Virtual prisoners
Another
group of Filipino migrants aching to go home are the stranded workers.
At
the Sumaisy deportation center are 19 OFWs. Among them is Elmer Viernes, a
stranded worker who ran away from his employer because of non-payment of wages.
Gratela
said there are around 1,500 stranded workers in Saudi Arabia, 200 of them in
Riyadh. Like Viernes, many were stranded after escaping from employers who
physically abused them or refused to pay their wages.
But
to be able to return to the Philippines, the stranded workers need release
papers from their former employers, as well as their passports and plane tickets
which are often also kept by the employers. And in some cases, even when the
employers have given the documents, the OFWs still could not return because they
do not have money for plane tickets.
To
protect stranded OFWs and campaign for their safe and immediate return, the
stranded workers have formed an organization called Kapatiran ng mga Migranteng
Stranded sa Riyadh or KAMI-SR.
Bring
them home
The
plight of Filipino migrants in Saudi Arabia is ironic given the Philippine
government’s statements about its contingency plans for the OFWs when the
United States attacks Iraq.
“Even
before the US’ war against Iraq,” said Gratela, “there are already
hundreds of distressed OFWs in Saudi who cry for immediate repatriation now. In
addition to intervening in the legal cases of the imprisoned OFWs, the Macapagal-Arroyo
administration should focus its resources toward bringing home these Filipino
migrants.”
And
for this, the government need not wait for the outbreak of war, he added. Bulatlat.com
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