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MANILA, Philippines? A total of 80 overseas Filipino workers repatriated by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) are arriving from Kuwait and Jordan on New Year?s Day after immigration authorities in both countries there allowed them to fly home.
OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon said all the repatriated OFWs will be arriving Friday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on several flights.
Thirty of the arriving OFWs are among 157 runaways who have sought shelter with the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait. The group will arrive on board Singapore Airlines flight SQ-918 at around 8:30 p.m.
Dimzon said the remaining 127 were still completing immigration pre-departure procedures but have been booked for flights out of the emirate.
Of those coming from Jordan, the first batch of 11 is arriving at 10:25 a.m. on board Gulf Air flight GF-154, the next 13 on board Etihad Airways flight EK0334 at 10:30 a.m.; and the third, 26 OFWs, at 10:35 p.m. on board EY 328.
Dimzon said that the repatriated workers were accommodated at Philippine welfare resource centers during negotiations with their foreign employers to give the workers exit clearances.
?Under Jordan and Kuwait immigration laws, migrant workers can leave only if they have obtained clearance from their employers. Negotiations involving runaway workers often take several months. Once the workers are cleared, OWWA books the OFWs with airlines immediately,? she explained to reporters.
Upon arrival at NAIA, the OFWs will be assisted by OWWA staff and will be offered temporary stay at the OWWA hostel in Pasay City. OWWA will also provide inland transport fares to the OFWs for their journey back to their provinces.
Meanwhile, OFW group Migrante-Middle East said more than 300 Filipinos remain stranded in Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Migrante-Mideast regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona, who is based in Riyadh, said in a statement sent by e-mail that the OFWs were homesick and wished to be with their families during the holidays.
He said 265, mostly runaways, are staying in a safehouse reportedly managed by the Philippine consulate in Jeddah but living conditions there were poor.
?They complained lack of food, water, and medicines as some became sick due to cold weather,? Monterona said, quoting one of the Filipinos in the safehouse.
The safehouse occupant also relayed that accommodations for men and women, as well as those with children are mixed, and that two pregnant OFWs have given birth there.
Monterona said the information received by the Migrante chapter in Jeddah is that some of the OFWs would be turned over to Saudi immigration authorities, who would be the one to deport them.
Aside from the 265 in Jeddha, Monterona said there are 89 distressed OFWs also seeking shelter at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, who were also unable to return home in time for the holidays.
