With no relief in sight, over 1,000 Pinoys huddle in tents in Jeddah

Exposed to the searing desert sun, over a thousand undocumented Filipino workers, with limited food, water, and toilet facilities, are now huddling in tents outside the Philippine consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, hoping for a means to fly home before a crackdown by the Saudi government lands them in prison.

Eight days since desperate overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) began camping outside the consulate, the mushrooming community of makeshift tents resembles an evacuation center in the Philippines. Many depend on the kindness of strangers who bring them food and water.

But this veritable “tent city” is expected to grow as the Saudi government appears determined to implement its crackdown on the estimated tens of thousands of illegal foreign workers in the kingdom.

In an effort to reduce its foreign workforce to open up jobs for Arab nationals, the Saudi government has sent home thousands in the last several months. A crackdown that started in March was suspended until July to enable foreign workers to sort out their status.

Meanwhile, the DFA has been negotiating with the Saudi government to ease up on some requirements before workers are allowed to exit the country.

The migrant workers advocacy group Migrante-Middle East told GMA News Online on Friday that some relatives of those camping outside the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah staged a picket in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) headquarters in Pasay City.

Some Philippine officials have called for assistance for the Filipinos camped outside the consulate in Jeddah.

Vice President Jejomar Binay in a Facebook post on Wednesday urged the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia to speed up the exit papers of undocumented OFWs who want to return to the Philippines.

Also on Wednesday, Senator Loren Legarda, Senate foreign relations committee chair, urged the departments of Labor and Foreign Affairs to "intensify representations with the Saudi government for the immediate repatriation of stranded overseas Filipino workers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia."

"The repatriation of hundreds of stranded Filipinos in Jeddah, some of whom are sick, and others even have children in tow, should be a priority of our government. This problem has gone on for years. Repatriation of stranded Filipinos should be a matter of course. It is not the subject of an 'if and when' proposition," Legarda said in a statement.

Haphazard conditions

Saudi Arabia is host to the biggest population of OFWs —about 1.5 million.

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas indicates that as of 2011, there were around 20,000 undocumented Pinoys in the kingdom.

According to a report on GMA News TV on Tuesday, the Filipinos are camping outside the consulate in hot, unsanitary, and unsafe conditions, causing some of the children to fall ill.

“Nananawagan kami sa pamahalaan natin na tulungan kami bago matapos yung tatlong buwan na ilalabas ng Saudi government. Bago matapos yun ay kailangan makauwi kaming lahat,” said a Filipino camping outside the consulate who refused to be named.

“Gumawa na sila ng inisyatiba para magkaroon na po ng mass repatriation at hanggat maaari nga ay manawagan na sa Saudi government para ipanawagan na ang general amnesty,” another Filipino said.

Meanwhile, a report of the Saudi-based news site Arab News earlier this week said as the number of campers outside the Philippine Consulate continues to swell, "the conditions at the camps have become unbearable."

The report cited the lack of food, water, and sanitation facilities for the undocumented Filipinos who are hoping to catch the first flight to the Philippines.

"Arab News saw some of the expats strolling aimlessly along the narrow alleyways opposite Umm Al-Qura Road while women and children kept themselves to the ubiquitous tents," it added.

One of the Filipinos camping outside the consulate, Jenat Faelgato, told Arab News that she has been trying to go home to the Philippines for the last two years but did not have the means to do so.

The domestic helper said she felt horrible living in the tent city with her two young children. However, she was forced to leave her employer whose son was beating her.

Another camper said she chose to stay outside the consulate because her sponsor suddenly stopped paying her salary. She said she worked legally in Saudi for 12 years but now wants to go back to the Philippines.

Some Saudis and Western expats are giving the refugees food and other essential items, a Saudi-based news site reported on Thursday.

Kind-hearted locals and expats arrive in vehicles and deliver the goods which are then distributed to the tent city refugees, according to another report from Arab News.

No assistance from Saudi govt

In an interview with reporters at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Makati on Thursday, Ambassador Abdullah Al-Hassan said their government has no intention to assist the 20,000 undocumented Filipino workers in their country, including those camping outside the Philippine Consulate.

“Definitely, the authorities of the kingdom shall not provide them any assistance,” Al-Hassan said.

He added that Saudi authorities will start arresting undocumented foreign workers after the three-month grace period given by the Saudi king ends on July 4, 2013.

Crackdown operations against undocumented foreign workers began on March 28.

The three-month suspension of the crackdown was announced on April 6, 2013 to give undocumented foreign workers time to sort out their documents.

After the reprieve, Saudi authorities will fully enforce the counrty's labor and visa requirement, and punish violators with jail time and steep fines of up to 50,000 Saudi Riyals (roughly P500,000)."

More than 200,000 foreigners have been deported from the country over the past few months, a passports department official said in comments reported by al-Hayat daily.

The crackdown is part of labor market reforms aimed at employing more Saudi nationals in private sector jobs, where they now make up only a tenth of the workforce. The most recent central bank statistics, for 2011, show nine in 10 working Saudis were employed in the government.

Negotiations

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said they will negotiate with the Saudi government for the speedy repatriation of the Filipinos camping outside the consulate.

“The PHL government will negotiate with the Saudi government for the waiver of certain requirements, such as the No Objection Certificate from employers who can no longer be contacted, to expedite the repatriation of these OFWs,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a separate report.

Hernandez added that the consulate is getting narratives from the Filipinos and is trying to get in touch with other undocumented OFWs who would like to be repatriated. – With reporting by Gian Geronimo/VVP/HS, GMA News