PHL Embassy in Saudi Arabia refers 12 runaway maids to welfare office

Philippine officials in Saudi Arabia have referred to the Saudi Social Welfare Administration at least 12 runaway Filipina household workers who have camped near the embassy premises in Riyadh to seek repatriation.

“Every day of the week, we will be endorsing 30 females to the Saudi Welfare Administration (SWA) or a total of 150 a week,” Ambassador Ezzedin Tago said in a report of the Saudi news site Arab News on Saturday.

Tago said the 12 Filipino maids are among the 77 people who have camped outside the Philippine embassy in Riyadh.

On Friday, the embassy also met the Filipino campers’ demand for blankets, toiletries, and milk.

Arab News said there are now 1,348 enlisted with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) for endorsement to the SWA.

Tago said the embassy continues to encourage the "campers" to be relocated to the Bahay Kalinga (BK) Foundation for women and a rest house for men.

Tago also urged undocumented Filipinos "to coordinate with the embassy’s staff to give the needed information so that the embassy could call their employers on their behalf.”

Undocumented Pinoys

Meanwhile, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs earlier said some 1,000 OFWs are camping outside the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah, creating a Pinoy "Tent City," as they seek to be repatriated to the Philippines to avoid being arrested when the crackdown against illegal workers in Saudi resumes.

The crackdown operations started on March 28 this year because of the “Saudization” policy (nitaqat) or the policy encouraging the employment of Saudi nationals in private firms.

The migrant workers advocacy group Migrante-Middle East said undocumented Filipinos started camping outside the Philippine Consulate on April 11, or five days after the Saudi King announced a three-month reprieve on the crackdown against illegal workers.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on April 6 ordered a three-month delay to a crackdown on illegal migrant workers that has led to thousands of deportations.

The reprieve, which will end on July 4 this year, aims to give foreigners in the kingdom a chance to sort out their papers. - VVP, GMA News