OFW, Alfredo Salmos
MANILA, Philippines–The activist migrant rights group Migrante-Middle East (M-ME) presses anew the Philippine government to immediately act to provide assistance to an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who was electrocuted last year.
In a statement released on April 8, 2012, Migrante-Middle East (M-ME) regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona, citing report from “Kaagapay Mo”, an OFW welfare organization based in Jeddah, “identified the OFW as Alfredo Salmos, more than 50 years old, from Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija.”
According to the report, Salmos was accidentally electrocuted late last year while performing his work. He was brought to a hospital and remained there unconscious for about a month. The accident rendered him unable to work and thus in dire condition, the report added.
Monterona said his group had immediately called the attention of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah to provide assistance to Salmos.
Unfortunately, Monterona added, until now they have not yet received a clear response from the PH consulate and POLO-OWWA officials in Jeddah regarding the assistance for Salmos.
“The PH consulate must locate the employer and sponsor of Salmos and convince it to issue a final exit clearance to him while working to get a police clearance as he was not cleared yet for the car accident he was involved 10 years ago,” Monterona said, adding that this is the first thing the PH consulate in Jeddah should do.
Monterona said Nueva Ecija Governor Aurelio M. Umali’s staff had called him last week and conveyed that the latter’s office will attend to Salmos, and would be willing to extend assistance to the OFW while trying to locate his family in Cuyapo.