Some 800 Filipinos still stranded in Jeddah — OWWA

Around 800 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remain stranded in Jeddah despite government efforts to repatriate them, according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). OWWA administrator Carmelita Dimzon said these OFWs are waiting to be cleared by their foreign employers before they can return to the Philippines. “The 800 remaining OFWs in the Jeddah center could be growing again as more runaways and unregistered OFWs from outside Jeddah seek sanctuary," she said in a statement posted on the agency’s website. Dimzon vowed to send home all Filipinos sheltered in various Philippine welfare centers overseas. She said the agency has shouldered the repatriation of 466 OFWs and their children from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait from June 27 to August 9 this year. Nonstop repatriation “The repatriation of distressed overseas Filipino workers and children in Filipino Workers Welfare Centers abroad will continue until all are flown home under the accelerated repatriation program ordered by the Department of Labor and Employment," Dimzon said. A total of 1,757 stranded OFWs have been repatriated during the first six months of 2010. In 2009, OWWA said it has repatriated 1,903 OFWs. Dimzon said OWWA welfare officers are working with the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices and the Department of Foreign Affairs to complete the documentation of the stranded OFWs and their children. She added that stranded Filipinos will be repatriated within a month from obtaining exit clearances, and complying with biometric and other departure procedures of immigration authorities. OWWA has been paying the meals and renting space at the Hajj Terminal to accommodate the overflow of Filipino workers awaiting clearances in Jeddah, Dimzon said. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz had instructed OWWA to fly home distressed Filipinos in response to President Benigno Aquino III’s concern over the welfare of Filipinos seeking assistance in Philippine welfare centers. Clarification Meanwhile, Dimzon clarified in the same statement that OWWA members paid membership fees totaling to P1.5 billion for 2009, not P12.5 billion as earlier reported. Dimzon explained that the P12.5 billion is the aggregate amount of the OWWA trust fund from contributions by member-OFWs and their employers, as well as income from investments and other sources. “Expenditures can be made only if authorized by OWWA’s board of trustees," she said. - Jerrie M. Abella/KBK, GMANews.TV