Embassy warns Filipinos against camping out

The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh has delivered a stern warning to Filipinos residing in the Kingdom to refrain from public rallies and protests, as they are a violation of Saudi laws and an impediment to the embassy’s ability to deliver services to community members. In a text message, Ambassador Ezzedin Tago said: “We did not authorize anyone to call on our behalf,” in reference to advice given from unofficial sources encouraging OFWs to rally near embassy premises. The embassy had earlier received inquiries from Filipinos regarding whether they could camp on embassy premises and in areas adjacent to the Philippines Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) in order to seek repatriation. In a statement issued yesterday, the embassy made it clear that it had not authorized any person or group regarding such action, nor had it received consent from the Saudi government for camp arrangements. Filipinos with irregular status who are affected by the recent developments regarding labor and immigration law violations need only visit the embassy or POLO to have their respective cases documented and enable them to be given appropriate advice or assistance, the ambassador explained. At present, the embassy is recording information on the status of overstaying Filipinos for documentation purposes and these cases are forwarded to Saudi authorities for consideration and resolution in accordance with existing regulations. In a related development, families of stranded OFWs in Jeddah were unhappy with the outcome of the dialogue with Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario recently. According to Garry Martinez, chairperson of the group advocacy group Migrante International, the dialogue was just a repeat of the Department of Foreign Affairs' promises since the Jeddah tent city was set up. “Insofar as demand for free, immediate and mass repatriation is concerned, no commitment was made by the DFA,” he said. Martinez, along with Migrante Middle East Coordinator John Leonard Monterona and some of the OFWs’ relatives, held talks with DFA officials recently. The talks were a result of negotiations with the DFA following the OFW families’ decision to camp out in solidarity with workers outside DFA gates yesterday. Martinez said that all the DFA offered were piecemeal solutions and token actions with the hope of appeasing families who are already into day two of the solidarity camp-out. “They promised to prioritize the cases of OFWs whose families joined in the dialogue. But the families were not appeased. Like their relatives at the tent city, they are united in the demand for free, immediate and mass repatriation of their loved ones,” he said. After the dialogue, Migrante and the families decided to pack up camp at the DFA and proceed to set up camp at Mendiola. “We’ve been to the DFA but received no commitment from them. It’s time to bring our demands to President Aquino.” “We want to hear what the president has to say. It’s been 24 days since the Jeddah tent city was established and we haven’t had any statement from him. If he’s still too busy campaigning for his candidates, then we hope that this could finally get his attention,” Martinez said. Source: ArabNews