Over 2,600 Pinoy amnesty seekers in UAE back in PHL — DFA

More than 2,600 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) returned to the Philippines after seeking amnesty, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. In a text message to GMA News Online on Friday, DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said their records currently show that the number of Filipinos who availed of the amnesty program was 2,604. “[The] Embassy is now waiting for the official number from UAE side that might be higher since some of our kababayans went to the UAE amnesty centers directly,” Hernandez continued. Citing a report of Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Grace Princesa, Hernandez said: 1,650 OFWs were assisted by the Philipppine Embassy in Abu Dhabi, and 954 were taken care of by the Philippine Consulate in Dubai. In a report of Raffy Tima on the GMA News program "Balitanghali," Princesa said the number of Filipino amnesty seekers was much less than they expected. Princesa said the low figure suggests that undocumented OFWs may have been able to secure a job. As the amnesty program program ended on Monday, the expatriates who do not have the proper documents will be arrested. Philippine Vice Consul General Gerardo Suliguin earlier told the UAE-based news site Khaleej Times that 954 Filipinos availed of the amnesty program through the Philippine Consulate in Dubai. Suligion said, “Though I cannot give the exact number of amnesty seekers in 2007, I know for a fact that this year’s number is very much lower.” The Indonesian and Sri Langkan embassies also told the Khaleej Times that they faced a similar issue, having only 515 and 650 amnesty seekers respectively, as compared to the 3,000 and 4,000 who availed of the program in 2007. Indonesian Consul Fajar Nuradi believes that the illegal migrants are staying in the hope of being given another amnesty program. There are 679,819 Filipinos in the UAE based on the data from the 2011 Stock Estimate of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. - VVP, GMA News