MIGRANT
WATCH
From Saudi, With
Tears
Stranded OFWs in shelters abroad write
letters, not to the government, but to a migrant workers organization
pleading for help.
BY AUBREY MAKILAN
Bulatlat
Migrante
International chair Connie Bragas-Regalado had been wearing her reading
glasses, poring over several letters, her face all red. No, she was not
blushing over a love letter. Her face was red with anger and she was
gnashing her teeth as she read letters from stranded overseas Filipino
workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Cases
On a table in front of Bragas-REgalado is
a brown envelope containing letters from about 50 female OFWs secretly
given to a Migrante member in KSA.
The letter-writers were staying at the
Bahay Kalinga, a shelter in KSA for stranded and run-away OFWs. One gets
an idea how the OFWs in the shelter share things no matter how little they
have, as shown by the letters written by different people on the same kind
of stationery or simple pad paper.
|
HELP US: Migrante International
chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado pores over letters from
Saudi-based, abused female OFWs staying at Bahay Kalinga
PHOTO
BY AUBREY MAKILAN |
The OFWs wrote about cases ranging from
unfair labor practices to rape. Some letters were like short profiles
while others are in short bio-data form. Although the letters were dated
April, Bragas-Regalado received the envelope only this May, when a fellow
Filipino went home.
All letters have a common plead: “Sana
po ay matulungan n’yo ako.” (I
hope you could help me.)
At the shelter
At the start, migrants may find the
shelters their safe haven until they experience “life” there, said
Bragas-Regalado.
In KSA, Bahay Kalinga can accommodate only
a hundred people, she said. However, two weeks ago, Migrante learned from
Maria Jinalyn Rejano, a rape victim staying in that shelter, that there
were already about 300 stranded Filipino migrants there.
The letters started coming in after
Migrante found out in 2004 that mobile phones of OFWs at the Kuwait
shelter were confiscated by Embassy personnel.
“Kukumpiskahin nila e ‘yun na nga lang
ang paraan para maka-connect sila sa mga pamilya nila sa Pilipinas
at malaman ang kondisyon nila,” (They confiscated the phones which
were their only means of connecting with their families and telling them
of their condition) said Bragas-Regalado.
When the group learned about this, they
immediately wrote to Embassy officials in host countries confiscating
mobile phones.
Although the confiscation stopped, she
said that OFWs were allegedly told not to report anything, particularly to
Migrante.
“Siguro para di malaman na wala silang
ginagawa,” she added. (They probably didn’t want anyone to know that
they’re not doing anything.)
But instead of being thankful, most wrote
complaints about the inefficiency of government officials in Philippine
embassies to act on their cases.
“Bulok ang sistema ng emabahada dito
(sic) ang trato sa amin ay parang preso (sic) kulang sa pagkain, tubig at
personal na gamit (sic) maraming nagdo-donate na pagkain pero walang
nakakarating sa amin at ibinubulsa ng nangangasiwa sa amin,” wrote
Emma Manao. (The embassy’s system here useless. They treat us like
prisoners, we lack food, water and personal needs. There were many food
donations but none reaches us because it gets pocketed by the one who
administrates over us.)
Manao’s contract was already finished, but
although she already has her plane ticket, she still lacks travel
documents and an exit visa.
No response
Whenever Migrante members based in other
countries announce plans to go home to the Philippines, OFWs in different
shelters in those countries would send letters for their families or for
Migrante, telling them their condition and case status.
Based on these letters, Migrante would
write the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) about the OFWs’ conditions
at the shelter. Bragas-Regalado would meet with DFA officials and case
officers to get updates on their reported cases.
Last May, they reported 38 cases of
stranded OFWs but there was no response from the DFA as of this writing.
“Kung walang nagtitiyagang mag-follow
up, walang mangyayari,” she said. (If nobody will follow it up,
nothing will happen.)
Worse, Bragas-Regalado said they can only
monitor those inside the shelters where only women were accomodated.
“E pano na ‘yung mga lalaki,
pakalat-kalat lang sila?” she said.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong,
OFW organizations under Migrante’s network have the “Bantay Konsulado.”
This campaign evaluates the performance of the Philippine consulate in HK
and exposes anomalies. Bulatlat
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