For the past ten days more than 70 Filipino workers have been living in makeshift tents on a plot of vacant land next to their consulate here demanding to be sent back home as soon as possible. The Filipinos were working legally in the Kingdom, but over time they either did not renew their Iqamas or ran away from their sponsors, Vicente M. Cabe, Labor Attaché for the Philippine Overseas Labor Office at the Consulate General of the Philippines in Jeddah, told Saudi Gazette on Tuesday. “Because they don't have any place to live, they decided to stay near the consulate building in order to be helped as soon as possible,” he said. He pointed out that the workers are not from Jeddah only, but that some of them came from Riyadh, Dammam, Tabuk and Abha as they thought that from Jeddah it would be easier to be sent back home.” Upon visiting the makeshift tents and shacks set up by the Filipino workers, Saudi Gazette found men, women and young children waiting for help from their consulate. Some of them were in need of medical care and all of them desired to be allowed to stay in a clean place until they were deported. Ricky Miego worked at King Abdulaziz Airport for two years until he ran away from his sponsor for non-payment of his salary. “I have not received my salary for six months,” he said. The labor attaché at the Philippines Consulate said that most of the workers were reluctant to provide accurate information about their sponsors as they were afraid that an in-depth investigation of their sponsors by the Passports Department and Ministry of Foreign Affairs would delay their departure from the Kingdom. Judy came to the Kingdom in 2005 and worked for a Saudi sponsor until he refused to either renew her Iqama or send her home. “I do not want to work in the Kingdom illegally,” she said. Some of the workers said that their sponsors decided to decrease their salary, and as a result, they decided to quit working for them. “Suddenly, for no reason, my sponsor decreased my salary from SR1,400 to SR900. It was then that I decided to run away to find another sponsor or to return home,” said Rafeil, a Filipino Muslim. Some Saudi and Filipino families who live near the consulate have provided the workers with food, water and blankets, in addition to milk and diapers for the babies. Omar Abo Saba'ah, an old Saudi who lives across the street from the consulate, said that he has seen Saudi mothers providing food and blankets to the Filipino mothers daily. “I was very sad when I saw a mother with her two babies sitting in a tent in the hot sun waiting to be deported with her children,” he said. Labor Attaché Cabe told Saudi Gazette: “We contacted the Passports Department in Jeddah and asked them to provide a place for these people. However, they told us that they do not have any place to put them. Therefore, we have sent an official request to our government in Manila to ask for funds to be used to provide medical care for the workers and their families and to be able to rent a place for them to stay.” He added that the consulate had already identified a temporary shelter for the workers, but that they were waiting for funds to be provided by their government. At the same time, they are working with the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Passports Department to try to find a solution to the problem, he said.
