Donna Corpin Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — With five more Saturdays to go before the July 3 deadline expires, Philippine missions in the Kingdom are confident that they will be able to provide all necessary services to all Filipinos who want to correct their status or return home for good. While they would welcome an extension, “we are well within our timetable,” Consul Leo Tito Ausan, Jr. told Saudi Gazette in a recent interview. “As Consul General (Uriel Norman) Garibay would put it, we're on the right track. But what we do on our end would also have to be met with a counterpart effort on the part of the Jawazat (Directorate General for Passports) so that those who need to be repatriated and those who need to transfer can do it on time.” As of May 29, the embassy has already released 1,488 surrendered passports to holders in Riyadh while 717 passports have been sent to Jeddah for the consulate to release. These old passports will be useful for those who do not have copies of their iqamas (residence permits) anymore. The Directorate General for Passports requires the iqama, an iqama copy, iqama number, or the old passport before it processes a final exit or transfer of employment. Those who no longer have copies of their iqama or the passport they used when they entered the Kingdom will have to get a Jawazat printout from the Passports Directorate. Since May 10, the embassy and the consulate have processed and issued 4,011 and 2,420 travel documents respectively. In addition to the iqama or entry information, the travel documents are necessary for all those who are applying for final exit in case they do not have a valid passport. The travel documents are free of charge, and are valid for three months for one-way travel to the Philippines. They are issued after the person presents a copy of his old passport or other proof of citizenship, and an application for travel documents. For Filipinos who will be transferring to another employer and need a new valid passport, the embassy has been encoding renewal passports for those who have their expired passport. For those who do not have their passports, they may apply for replacement passports. From May 18-29, the embassy has encoded 1,311 renewal passports and 1,566 replacements for lost passports, or a total of 2,877 passports. The embassy has done this with additional passport data capturing machines and personnel at two venues: the Elite International School and the International Philippine School in Riyadh. The consulate has also encoded over 1,500 passports for renewal, and encoded over 2,000 replacements for lost passports. Ausan said Manila was also doing its part as the usual turnaround time of 20 days for processing passports has been significantly reduced, and that they are now three-fourths of the way now with about 8,000 passports to process in all. The requirements for lost passport have been streamlined, and the embassy during the corrective period no longer requires a police report or Jawazat printout from the applicants for lost passport replacement who are doing so to correct their status. The embassy has ended services at the Elite International School on May 28, while the services at the International Philippine School in Riyadh will continue until June 4. Consul Leo Tito Ausan, Jr., who heads the Philippine Consulate General's Special Concerns Section, said that officials have devised an operational plan to beat the deadline, and the system is now performing “like clockwork.” He said that by June 5 they would have already photographed and fingerprinted all of those who desire to change their work status. By June 25, all of their passports would have already been processed by the home office (Manila) and sent back to the Kingdom. That will leave one week more for workers to change their status and transfer to new employers. About 6,000 Filipino workers had registered for repatriation initially, but since corrective guidelines were issued by Saudi authorities on May 10, only 3,000 still want to go home, while the other 3,000 prefer to stay and find new employers. Many of these workers have come to Jeddah from Riyadh and the Eastern Province. “There is this popular notion somehow that leaving Saudi Arabia through Jeddah is a much easier process than (through) Riyadh,” Ausan said, adding that they are not sure why Filipinos think that way. Ausan said even before the guidelines were issued, 198 Filipinos — a mixture of men, women, and children — were already brought to Tarheel (deportation center), out of which 166 were repatriated while 13 remained inside for clearing. These were followed by 120 more who were processed for clearing and awaiting exit visas. Since the consulate was told that Saturdays were reserved for Filipinos at the Jawazat, consulate officials brought 300 people there last Saturday, joined by 400 others who were not staying at the consulate's temporary shelters. However, only 200 out of the 700 were accommodated for clearing on that day. Ausan said the Jawazat was also trying to process as much as it can even on weekends, as when late in the evening two Fridays ago, they called the consulate to bring in people for processing. Consulate officials then brought 202. “Until the wee hours of the morning they processed them. Maybe they found a space to process so they called us up. So the people had to scramble and take taxis to go there.” Not everyone has to be assisted by the consulate, however. Those who have already been issued travel documents can go there on their own, although if they have questions, they are welcome to approach Philippine consular staff deployed at the Jawazat for assistance. Meanwhile, those who are transferring to new sponsors/employers need to be accompanied by their prospective employers. “We don't have to go with them. We don't have to oversee the process, although the advice of POLO (Philippine Overseas Labor Office) is for them to show to us the contract so that we will know if they're at the better end or the losing end of the bargain,” Ausan said. Ausan's advice for those who wish to transfer to new sponsors is to start looking for employers and make arrangements with them while waiting for their new passports, in order to ensure that they will meet the deadline. He also clarified that passport processing fees have not been waived. Regular renewal of passports costs SR240. If the passport they lost is not an e-passport, the fee is SR460 while it's SR700 for those who lost machine-readable passports (MRPs). Asked about conditions at the so-called “Tent City,” the almost two-month-old camp beside the consulate set up by Filipinos seeking repatriation, Ausan said they constantly hold dialogues with the camp leaders and make a head count every day. As of last count, there were 160 people staying there, while 123 mothers and children are at the shelter inside the consulate building. Ausan said the consulate also operates on Fridays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., besides extending daily weekday operations from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Lines for those who need to correct their status or be repatriated start at the back gate, while regular clients go through the front. He denied that the consulate has suspended serving regular clientele, or Filipino workers whose status are legal but also need to avail of consular services. “Please bear with us; all of you will be served,” Ausan said.
