Distressed OFWs in Riyadh write letter of appeal to Aquino

Some 21 overseas Filipino workers in Riyadh who are complaining of abuse in the hands of their employer have appealed for help from President Benigno Aquino III through a hand-written letter. The OFWs said they have been duped by their recruitment agencies in the Philippines and are now suffering “inhumane" treatment from their employer, a Riyadh-based contracting firm. “To our beloved President, we are currently in Riyadh and we would like to seek your help with the problems we have right now, such as unpaid salaries, insufficient food allowance, extended working hours and lack of medical attention," the workers wrote in Filipino. In their signed letter, the workers alleged their salary is delayed by two months, and that they are made to work for more than eight hours without overtime pay. They also said they have no medical insurance, and that their accommodations are unsanitary. “We are also being forced to sign documents in Arabic, as well as blank papers and blank receipts, and we are concerned about what they really contain," they added. The workers have sought the help of Riyadh-based organization Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan-Migrante (KGS), which arranged a case dialogue between the workers and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office on July 30. “They told us that they have been forced to sign a new employment contract, the terms and conditions of which are different from the original employment contracts they have signed in the Philippines with their recruitment agencies," said KGS secretary general Mike Garlan. The workers are also accusing three recruitment agencies – Wavex Management Services Inc., Realworld Corp. and World Production Intl. Manpower Corp. – of deceiving them about their employer, and of giving them expired work visas. “When we were interviewed in the Philippines, we were told it (Riyadh-based contracting firm) was a construction company, only to find out it’s just a manpower agency. Now we’re like animals being sold off to legitimate construction agencies," the workers further stated in their letter. GMANews.TV tried to contact the workers’ agencies, but their listed numbers were not working. Migrante-Middle East coordinator John Leonard Monterona said they would forward the workers’ letter to Aquino, saying such problems as labor malpractices, abuses and lack of on-site services and welfare programs are the same ones being experienced by millions of OFWs in other countries. “On his first State of the Nation Address, Migrante chapters in the Middle East challenge Pres. Aquino III to make clear, bold and specific marching orders on actions to take, such as providing more on-site services and protection for OFWs abroad, and lowering or scrapping unnecessary fees and charges imposed to OFWs by the government," Monterona said. During his inauguration last June 30, Aquino said the government will strive to generate more local jobs so that workers would not have to leave the country for overseas work. - KBK, GMANews.TV