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MANILA, Philippines—Forty-nine erstwhile overseas Filipino workers currently jailed in Saudi Arabia have asked the Philippine government to help them return home by interceding with the Saudi officials with the approach of an Islamic holiday marking the end of the hajj or the religious pilgrimage season.
Migrante-Middle East, an OFW alliance in the region, said the 49 were part of the 200 Filipinos who lived under Khandera bridge in the Jeddah before being rounded up by immigration authorities.
“They are hoping they will be repatriated on before the Hajj holiday so that they can be reunited with their families this Christmas,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-ME’s regional coordinator who is based in the capital Riyadh.
The 49 are detained in three cells at the deportation center in Jeddah’s Hajj Airport since August 2009.
Monterona recounted that he spoke over the weekend via cellphone with one of the jailed Filipinos, named Abdul Jalil, 30, a resident of Barangay Mahayahay, Iligan City.
“I regularly receive text messages from Jalil’s group who keep on asking update about their repatriation. I tell them that Migrante continuously presses the Philippine consulate general for their repatriation. We’re regularly following their case, but the PCG has been so inefficient in repatriating stranded OFWs like them,” Monterona said in a statement sent to the INQUIRER.
The Islamic world is observing in late November the Eid al-Adha or the Festival of Sacrifice, which commemorates the willingness of the patriarch Ibrahim (Abraham in the Christian bible) to sacrifice his eldest son Ishmael, the ancestor of the Arabs. Father and son later built the Kaaba in the city of Mecca, which became the center of the pilgrimage or hajj the Muslims are required to take at least once in their lifetimes.
In Saudi Arabia, the Eid al-Adha would be observed from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2. During the festival, Monterona said, the Saudi government usually offers repatriation of all stranded and distressed migrant workers, including OFWs.
“Abdul and the the remaining stranded OFWs are hoping that they could avail this and eventually will be repatriated soon,” Monterona said.
Monterona said the Filipinos, as well as other migrant workers such as Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Indonesians also congregate in groups under the bridge, fully aware that they would be eventually be rounded up and deported by the Saudi government.
Migrante-ME called on Philippine Consul General Ezzadin Tago to make arrangements with the Saudi authorities as soon as possible for the deportation of the 49 under the holiday amnesty.
“This is like a valuable gift for the remaining stranded OFWs to be reunited with their families back home and celebrate the Yulitide all together,” Monterona said.
