Published: Apr 1, 2011 00:43 Updated: Apr 1, 2011 00:43
RIYADH: Several Filipino migrant groups have formed a coalition to ensure the welfare of Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia.
“Various groups signed an agreement recently to work together for the protection of the rights and welfare of OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers),” John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East regional coordinator, told Arab News on Thursday.
“Thus, the OFW groups call themselves the ‘Coalition of the Willing’. They have been providing assistance to distressed compatriots for quite some time now,” Monterona said, adding that the move was made due to the perceived lack of efforts on the part of the Philippine Embassy to protect the rights and welfare of OFWs.
“In the past, we referred cases to embassy officials. We even entrusted OFWs who had run away from their sponsors to them but they ended up in jails. This means that the embassy officials had turned these OFWs over to the authorities with the hope that they would be deported,” Monterona said.
The Migrante affiliate Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan or KGS (Brotherhood in the Middle East), ABC and Pinoy Group signed the agreement.
“We hereby declare that we are formally launching a collective move to provide assistance to distressed OFWs who will seek our help. The assistance could be in the form of cash or endorsement to the embassy, Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and agencies of the host government,” the groups said in a statement. “We will ensure the availability of sufficient financial and material resources for the repatriation of distressed OFWs.”
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