Filtered By: Topstories
News

OFW stuck in Saudi deportation facility temporarily freed


MANILA, Philippines - An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who has been languishing in a deportation facility in Saudi Arabia has been temporarily released, a group based in Riyadh said on Tuesday. OFW-SOS, a help desk for distressed Filipino workers, said Eddie Vacalares, a former crane operator in the southwestern city of Abha, was initially given temporary liberty for two weeks after a human rights advocate question his case with local authorities. Vacalares has been languishing at the Shumeisy main office of the Jawazat (Passport Department) in the national capital, Riyadh, for more than five months even though he has a pending labor case, OFW-SOS earlier reported. He was released in Abha. As explained by OFW-SOS leader Joseph Espiritu, the Saudi law provides that any expatriate worker should not be held at the deportation facility as long as he or she has a pending labor case. Shumeisy is the deportation facility where all male undocumented or illegal migrants in Riyadh are placed. The facility can only hold such migrants for a maximum of 45 days to ensure that they have not violated any Saudi laws. Last Saturday, engineer Abdullah Sabig, a retired colonel of the Royal Saudi Air Force who is current head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, raised Vacalares’ case with the Jawazat and was told that Vacalares was detained because his employer filed an absconding or disappearance case against him. Sabig said this was unfair given that the OFW was first to file a labor case against his previous employer to claimhis end-of-service benefits (ESB). He has reportedly won the case at the lower court but his employer appealed. Espiritu of OFW-SOS told GMANews.TV through an e-mail that the Filipino worker was given a waraga or paper for his release, which is good for only two weeks. Vacalares now needs a kafil or a guarantor who could be any Saudi or the Philippine Consulate of Jeddah itself, Espiritu said. “Our first option of course must be our consulate though sa mga previous experiences natin ay hindi sila magissue ng kafala or guarantee sa mga Pilipino (Our first option of course must be our consulate though from our previous experiences, they do not issue a kafala or guarantee to Filipinos)," said Espiritu. Founded three years ago, OFW-SOS is a hotline based in the Saudi capital to take calls from overseas Filipino workers in distress. Volunteers either provide guidance or direction to callers or connect them to the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) based in Manila or to Philippine government agencies concerned. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV
LOADING CONTENT