At times, Vallarta said, some Filipino migrant workers who did not join their protest gave them food. She said their fellow OFWs who did not join their protest action knew that what they were fighting for was just but would rather endure the hard, exploitative and unfair working conditions for their families in the Philippines.
The protesting OFWs were verbally abused by their managers to force them to go back to work. Worse, some were physically hurt. Vallarta shared that a certain Susan was battered by their project manager.
By September 20, 2009, Vallarta and her colleagues who went on strike were repatriated.
Although they never met while working in Saudi Arabia, Vilma Alimoren, 27, is like Vallarta in many ways. Alimoren was also asked to sign a new contract that stipulated a lower salary and without the food allowance, upon arriving in Saudi Arabia on December 13, 2008.
Alimoren had difficulties with her job under Annasban as she was assigned to take care of eight Arabians. “It was hard because they were really big people,” she said in Filipino. “From eating, to giving them a bath, when they urinate or when they ‘poop,’ I take care of all of that.”
Yet, they were given a very low salary that was not sufficient to sustain the needs of her family back home. So Alimoren asked her supervisor to increase her working hours up to 16 so she could earn as much as 1,000 riyals.
But on October 11, 2009, 40 OFWs, including Alimoren, met and decided that they would stop working until the company would heed their concerns. This was the second sit-down strike conducted by OFWs against a company-affiliate of Annasban. The following day, a lawyer of Annasban was sent to their housing facility to convince them to go back to work. “But we refused. We first want to get the right compensation. But later on, we realized that what we really wanted was to go home and pursue the case here.”
Four months later, on February 15, 2010, Alimoren and 12 other women OFWs working for Annasban were repatriated. Alimoren said that during the four-month negotiations for their repatriation, they were told that OWWA and their respective agencies would be paying for their fare in going back home. But upon arriving in Manila, they learned that it was their two-month delayed salaries that were used to pay for their fare. “So now, we do not have any money,” she said.
Martinez said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration welcomed Almoren at the airport and were accommodated in the agency’s office in Pasay City.
“During their negotiations at the Philippine embassy in Saudi Arabia, they were promised full medical check-up upon arriving in the country,” Martinez said, “But until now, they have not been brought to the hospital. They were not even given a single paracetamol.” Martinez expressed his concern that the repatriated OFWs have developed severe cough, which they might have contracted from their patients since most of them were working as nursing aides and housekeepers for hospitals in Saudi.
Health Conditions
Many victims of Annasban who were repatriated are worried about their health conditions. Florabel Blance, 28, was repatriated with Alimoren. Blanca said since they arrived, she noticed that her feet has become swollen
Another OFW Teresite Appare, 34, said she noticed that her sclera, the white portion of one of her eyes, has become yellowish since she was repatriated. “People told me that it is not hepatitis because I do not have fever,” she said, “But I want to be sure. We demand an executive check-up for all the victims of Annasban.”
Appare and Blanca both worked for Al Markaz Inatph, a rehabilitation center for mentally challenged individuals. They said they were given disposable gloves while they were on duty. But they were not given any vaccine that would further protect them from infectious diseases, adding that the hospital did not even bother to inform them about the medical histories of their patients.
Pingback: Temporary Suspension of Job Orders, a Partial Victory for Victims of Annasban « Move For Work
The economic and political condition besetting the country is worsening as ever, and the government has no decent jobs to offer to millions of jobless or underemployed Filipinos. Hoping to uplift their miserable life, thousands are applying for jobs abroad whatever the risk is at stake. Majority of them believes and would say, “it’s better to go abroad and have something to eat than staying here with empty stomach”.
Our government knows this, and yet the bureaucracy is always in deaf ears to the grievances and problems of our OFWs. I think it will always be like this, as history tells us so.
What to do? OFWs should organize and strengthen their ranks and seek wider support to advance their legitimate rights and welfare. By then, OFWs would have a mightier voice to demand whatever is rightfully due for them.