JEDDAH — Undocumented Filipino workers camping outside the Philippine Consulate here have been told to secure a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from their employers to facilitate their travel back home. Hundreds of undocumented OFWs have been staying in make-shift tents near the consulate for several days demanding to be sent back home. Consul General Uriel Norman Garibay told Saudi Gazette in an interview Wednesday that he has asked the OFWs to make a narrative statement of their experiences at their work that forced them to escape from their sponsors. The official also told them to include the complete details of their sponsors such as names, telephone numbers and complete addresses including their photos and submit them to the consulate so that it could help them in persuading their employers to provide NOC to the runaway workers. Garibay said that just like in a movie there are four main actors that play a very important role in the situation of the undocumented workers. “The Philippine government, the Saudi government, the workers and the employers must cooperate to address the problem and find a solution. If one of these players is not cooperating then we will not able to resolve the problem,” Garibay said. Garibay added that the consulate officials already had talks with the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs which promised them to relay to the proper authorities the mission's proposal to waive the penalty imposed on the undocumented workers. Garibay further said that the ministry has also requested them to ask the undocumented Filipinos to provide the names and details of their sponsors and indicated their preparedness to help in persuading the sponsors to provide the NOC. There are more than 2,000 Filipinos — mostly women and children — staying near the consulate appealing for their immediate repatriation. Meanwhile, Saudi Ambassador to the Philippines Abdullah Al-Hassan has said the Saudi government will not provide any assistance to some 20,000 undocumented Filipino workers in the Kingdom. In an interview through his interpreter at the Saudi embassy in Manila, Al-Hassan said: “Definitely the authorities of the Kingdom shall not give them, provide them any assistance.” He also said after the three-month grace period ends on July 4, authorities will go after undocumented workers. “After this period lapses, of course we will have to implement the full measures of the law. We are constrained to apply the law as we have done here in the Philippines,” Al-Hassan said.
