RP repatriates 37 workers from Kuwait, Jeddah

Thirty-seven mostly female overseas Filipino workers (OFW) from Kuwait and Jeddah in the Middle East arrived in Manila Tuesday, officials said. In a statement posted on the Web site of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), two batches of workers have been repatriated after their foreign employers issued them clearances to leave. The first batch of 19 workers from Kuwait arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on board flight KU411 at about 4:30 p.m. A second batch, this time composed of 18 OFWS from Jeddah, arrrived at 5:30 p.m. on board Flight MH 802. The repatriated workers either faced deportation cases due to expired visas, or were runaway workers reported by their foreign employers to local authorities for breaching their employment contracts, OWWA administrator Carmelita Dimzon said. With their status transformed into overstaying aliens, runaway workers can only fly home after their employers issue exit clearances, the OWWA statement said. It added workers can be stranded for weeks or many months while negotiations for clearances from their employers were ongoing. According to Dimzon, OWWA books workers on the earliest available flights home to prevent another round of hearings as overstaying aliens. The Philippine embassies, Philippine Overseas Labor Offices, and OWWA welfare officers assisted the workers in negotiations and accommodated them at workers’ resource centers. Upon their arrival, workers may stay at OWWA’s Halfway House at the OWWA Center in Pasay City while waiting for domestic transportation back to their provinces. The workers will also be provided medical services and counseling as part of the repatriation service, OWWA explained. Meanwhile, 25 more OFWs from Jeddah will be arriving on April 1. — Jerrie Abella/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV