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Pinoy Abroad

DFA on watch for unrest, ‘Day of Rage' in Saudi


The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it is now monitoring signs of unrest in Saudi Arabia, including the “Day of Rage" scheduled on Friday in the monarchic state, for any possible adverse effect on some 1.2 million Filipinos there. But DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said they remain hopeful that the unrest in Saudi Arabia, a key ally of the United States in the Middle East region as well as the single biggest hirer of overseas Filipino workers (OFW), will not be a serious threat to the Kingdom. “Oo, tutok sa bansang ‘yan dahil ‘yan (ang may) pinakamaraming manggagawang Pilipino," Seguis said in an interview on dzRH radio. (Yes, we are focusing on that country because it has the biggest number of Filipino workers.) “Palagay namin medyo matatag ang gobyerno riyan, matatag ang hari ... Titingnan natin.," he added. (We believe the Saudi government is stable enough, the King has full control.) Seguis also said the DFA continues to monitor other countries in the Middle East and North Africa where anti-government protests are still ongoing, including Yemen, Bahrain and Oman. “Minamasid namin nang mahusay. Ang Yemen, wala tayong Embassy doon (pero) meron tayong teams doon, ni-register ang kababayan doon at sa Bahrain inaasikaso ng ating embahada. ... Ang sa Oman, ‘di naman regime change kundi parang socio-economic concern. Sa tingin namin maaayos yan," he said. (We are closely monitoring them. We don’t have an Embassy in Yemen but we have teams there who have started to register Filipino nationals. In Bahrain, our embassy is doing the same. And in Oman, protests are not for a regime change but rather for socio-economic concerns. We believe things will normalize.) Over 1M Pinoys in Saudi The Commission on Filipinos Overseas estimates that there are some 1.2 million Filipinos in the Kingdom as of December 2009. Of this figure, over one million are workers; some 20,000 are undocumented, while the rest are permanent residents. In 2009, according to records from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), over 290,000 Filipino workers were deployed in Saudi Arabia, including domestic helpers, nurses and teachers. A small group claiming to be Saudi nationals have sparked fears that the Kingdom may likewise fall into political unrest, as it called for a “Day of Rage" on March 11. The group has created a page on popular networking site Facebook which has 532 members so far. Supporters, however, have claimed that the Saudi government is blocking another page that has attracted more members. In a separate Facebook page with almost 9,000 members, another group is calling for a “revolution" in Saudi Arabia through protest actions slated on March 20. Among the second group’s demands are a change in government from the current Islamic absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy; the creation of a constitution; legislative elections; and an end to discrimination against women. It is widely believed that the planned protests are likewise aimed at pressuring the government to release detained leaders of Shi’ites, who compose the second largest denomination of Islam, next to the Sunnis. The Saudi government’s Ministry of Interior has already issued a statement stating that the Kingdom’s laws “strictly prohibit all forms of demonstrations, marches and sit-ins," as these contradict the principles of Islamic law. “[T]he security forces are lawfully authorized to take all necessary actions against whoever tries to violate the law in any way; and he will be subject to the full force of the relevant regulations," the statement added. Repatriate stranded OFWs, group asks As this developed, an OFW alliance in the region reminded Filipino workers there to stay away from demonstrations to avoid being implicated. “If there are planned activities scheduled [by Filipinos] on March 10 and 11, and on March 20, we are urging our fellow OFWs, their leaders and organizations to postpone them," Migrante-Middle East said in a statement. The group likewise called on the Aquino administration to appoint a new envoy to Saudi Arabia, after Ambassador Antonio Villamor’s tour of duty ended in September last year. “We could not understand why, despite clamor from Saudi-based OFWs, PNoy could not appoint an envoy to Saudi, particularly now that the latter’s services are badly needed in time of political uncertainties in the Arab region," said Migrante regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said. Monterona also asked the Philippine government to expedite efforts to repatriate over 1,000 OFWs at the Hajj Terminal and Jeddah’s deportation center. Some 120 distressed OFWs are likewise stranded at the Embassy-run Bahay Kalinga in Jeddah, and another 30 at a Philippine-run shelter in the Kingdom’s eastern region. “They need to be repatriated as soon as possible; we don’t want them to be left behind in case political turmoil besieges Saudi Arabia," Monterona explained.—JV, GMA News

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