Miners Falsely Accused and Imprisoned in Saudi Arabia
Feels neglected and betrayed by the government

Experienced and hard working, 23 miners from Benguet had bright hopes for the future as they were offered P40, 000 ($821.81 at an exchange rate of $1=P48.673) a month salaries to work in Saudi Arabia.  They expected to earn four times more than what they had been receiving here. But their fate turned for the worse when one of their colleagues was accused of attempting to smuggle 2.3 kilos of gold out of Saudi Arabia.

BY LYN V. RAMO
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

BAGUIO CITY (246 kms. north of Manila) While the national government praises and commends overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as modern-day heroes for keeping the Philippine economy afloat with their annual remittances, which amounted to U$12.8 billion in 2006, eleven miners arrived from Saudi Arabia feeling betrayed by the very same government that declared them as heroes.

Some 23 miners from different mining companies in Benguet applied and were accepted for jobs at the Mahd Ad' Dhahab Mines in Saudi Arabia. Experienced and hard working, they had bright hopes for the future as they were offered P40, 000 ($821.81 at an exchange rate of $1=P48.673) a month salaries, an amount almost four times more than what they had been receiving here.

But their fate turned for the worse when one of their colleagues was accused of attempting to smuggle 2.3 kilos of gold out of Saudi Arabia.  The suspect was forced to implicate them while under torture. All 23 of them were sentenced to nine months in jail but they were imprisoned for 11 months.  Six of them received 50 lashes while the rest from 70-150 lashes.  They said that they were also tortured.   

Eleven of them were released last February 23 from the Madina jail and were deported home early this month without receiving their unpaid wages and overtime pay. Their colleague who was convicted of the crime is still languishing in a jail in Saudi Arabia. 

Manuel Laus, one of the 11 miners released, said that they felt very bad because they did not receive any assistance from the Philippine consulate. To add insult to injury, Laus said, a representative of the Philippine consulate who happened to be in Jeddah when they were released tried to take credit for it when he did not even lift a finger to help them. They ignored him and felt more betrayed and neglected.  

They arrived home and felt more depressed when they learned of the hardships their families had to endure when they were in prison at the Mahd jail and later at the provincial jail in Madina province of Saudi Arabia.

“Our children had to quit school and our families had to live on whatever was saved since our last remittance,” lamented 43-year old Geronimo Magciano. 

Magciano told Nordis his two older children had to quit college while the two younger siblings continued to go to school but had to make do with meager allowances.  “My wife really had a hard time trying to make both ends meet,” he related sadly.

Joel Palicos, 45, said he pities his wife and three small children aged 4, 8 and 9, more than he pities the man who was tortured to implicate them. 

Their wives and children, who were at the press conference with their lawyer Reynaldo Paredes last Wednesday afternoon, were teary-eyed and speechless as they listened to the men relate their ordeal.

All eleven miners and their families are appealing to the government to work for the immediate release of the other miners still languishing in a Saudi jail on false charges; provide them with assistance and emergency relief; and to assist them in collecting the unpaid salaries and other compensation due them.

Flora Belinan, Migrante-Baguio-Benguet and the third nominee of Gabriela Women's Party said, “Women and children bear most of the social cost of migration. It is the women who suffer the agony and uncertainty, especially if their husband-OFW is in jail.”

Belinan said almost all OFWs jailed in other countries suffer the same hardships.  In the first place, she said, the Philippine government should have intervened immediately especially since most, like the 23 miners, were mere fall guys. Torture and imprisonment are unnecessary sacrifices that OFWs and their families have to face. 

The miners, now left with no job, said that their records have already been tarnished with their 11-month imprisonment in Saudi Arabia. “We are anxious that no other company in any country would accept us,” Magciano said as he aired the sentiment of the group. 

Belinan agreed that when an OFW's name is tarnished in a country, it would be hard to land another job in another country.  She lamented that there are not enough decent-paying jobs around to provide employment for returning OFWs.

“Sino sana ang kakalinga sa mga kababayan nating nagtatrabaho sa ibang bansa no saan a ti gobyerno?” (Who should care for our compatriots working abroad if the government fails to do so?) Belinan said. 

The eleven miners who included Nick Mallare,42; Romeo Colas, 48; Hector Dominguez, 41; Sammuel Dagwase, 40; Nestor Apid, 42; Jose Mangilit, 46 and Raul Pongus, 48, will file a case to clear their names.  Twelve unnamed others, including Tandagan, are still languishing in the Madina jail. 

No one expects this to happen to them, said Belinan.  In the first place, Belinan said, no one wants to leave his family to work abroad if not for the lack in gainful employment in the country, she added.  Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS/ Posted by Bulatlat

© 2007 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Publications

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