DAMMAM: Unwed Filipina mothers and their born out of wedlock children have become a social and economic burden to both the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and the Filipino community in the Kingdom. The Eastern Region POLO office has launched a campaign to provide support programs for these unwed mothers and their illegitimate children, something that has not been done in the past. The campaign appears to have been a success, and has encouraged many unwed mothers to openly come out to seek help from their government, through the POLO, and the Filipino community. There are no official statistics as to the number of unwed mothers in the Filipino community in the Kingdom. Former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Antonio Villamor has said that there is a sizable number of them across the Kingdom. “We have been able to provide support programs, which include keeping them all in a safe house, providing them with food and medicine, milk for the children, toiletries, and other basic needs while we are working for their repatriation back to the Philippines, a task that requires the provision of air tickets and other expenses,” said Ron Lionel Bartolome, welfare officer at the POLO-Eastern Region Operation. However, he said the POLO mission of providing this kind of assistance to the mothers and their children appears to be never-ending. “It has now become a cycle because after we are able to repatriate the current number, others will come and take their place and therefore the situation appears to be in continuing rotation,” Bartolome said. “The situation has spawned a social and economic burden considering that we (POLO) and the Filipino community have to pull our resources to provide support and help to this segment of our community,” he said. According to Bartolome, there are at present 11 mothers with 15 children who are scheduled to be repatriated to the Philippines phase by phase. He said POLO is able to secure the support of the authorities in repatriating them, but still the burdens remain “because unwed Filipina mothers and their children continue to knock on our doors”. During the past months, several unwed mothers and their children have been repatriated to their respective provinces and cities in the Philippines. POLO officials in the region said that as long as there are run-away female workers, who, in the course of their being out of work or in a situation where they are forced to work illegally, the likelihood of them being involved in relationships remains a reality. “In these situations, we are creating social and economic problems that continue; and therefore the burdens will be upon the Philippine government, the community, and the host country as well,” POLO officials said. There is also a socio-cultural backlash that has produced strong displeasure, if not condemnation, from both the local community and the expatriate communities. Bartolome said local social groups could help in easing the situation. “What we are trying to tap is some social and charitable organizations of Saudi women to help us in solving not only problems of basic needs, but also to address the issue to the government in terms of ways, for example, of encouraging respect for women workers.” “The current situation is a result of conditions in which the abuse of workers, particularly women, will certainly lead to them abandoning their employers, and in the long run these hapless victims become victims of another abuse – that is of being victims of illicit relationships,” a social worker of a leading hospital said.
