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MANILA, Philippines - An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) awaiting deportation along with over 200 Filipinos at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabi died at the Hajj Airport, a group reported.
Migrante International chairperson Gary Martinez said on Friday that their member organization Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan (translated to “Brotherhood in Middle East”) reported they got word via an SMS that an OFW named “Edward,” who was crammed with 37 others in cell number 1, died.
Since August, about 100 OFWs have been reported to live under a bridge in Jeddah, after running away from abusive employers, reported the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
Martinez said the message reporting the death came from fellow deportee OFW Ronald, which read: “isa po ang namatay sa amin, sobrang init, at siksikan, hnd kmi d2 mkaka inom, lht kmi nagkaksak8, lgnat, hnd kmi mkaktau sa wlng lkas ng ktawn. khpon my na kolaps s amin. khit gmot ay wala bigay sa amin ang embassy (One of us died, it's too hot and cramped, we cannot drink here, all of us are getting sick, [and catching] fever, we can not stand up because our bodies are too weak, yesterday one of us collapsed. We don’t receive any medicine from the Embassy).”
Martinez asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to immediately send a chartered flight to Jeddah to bring home the OFWs awaiting deportation and for the Philippine embassy in KSA to provide 24/7 healthcare and medicine to OFWs packed in the detention center.
“We demand Arroyo to immediately send a chartered flight to Jeddah to bring home our fellow Filipinos. The government has all the power and resources to do so. Huwag mo ng hintayin na sa pagbisita mo sa Saudi ay mga bangkay ng kababayan natin ang sumalubong sa iyo [Don't let OFWs bodies welcome you when you visit Saudi],” said Martinez.
He added living conditions in the cell where OFWs were kept for about a month now would lead to diseases and worse, death.
“We also demand the Philippine Embassy to deploy a team of doctors, nurses and social workers that would provide round-the-clock service to the Filipinos. We also demand them to release an honest report of the state of the Filipinos at the deportation center so that we can ask the Filipino community in Saudi for bayanihan [cooperation],” added Martinez.
