Last of freed OFWs welcomed home

Disbelief, wonderment and relief experienced in a homecoming rush tends to make speech difficult.

"I always get left behind," Filipino seaman Nicasio Dagsa said in his arrival speech at the Ninoy Aquino international Airport (NAIA) yesterday.

"In truth, I am really still blanked out because I cannot believe I am here in our airport. The others (OFWs jailed along with him in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) were my companions in jail. We seamen are a family. We don’t leave each other behind. I’m always the one who gets left behind," Dagsa said at NAIA’s Gate 16 arrival area.

Dagsa is the last of the 23 Filipino seamen to be released after languishing for three years in debtor’s prison in Abu Dhabi.

He and his comrades were released and repatriated after First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and special envoy Amable Aguiluz V conducted a series of successful negotiations with the UAE government.

Arroyo and Aguiluz met Dagsa at NAIA, along with the seaman’s family and 22 other seamen released from the same jail.

An emotional Dagsa thanked the President and Mr. Arroyo and Aguiluz for their untiring efforts to negotiate for his and his compatriots’ release.

The NAIA arrival area, as with the homecoming Saturday of the 22 seamen who preceded Dagsa, was like that of a political rally, with streamers covering the walls of Gate 16. Aguiluz and the First Gentleman also delivered speeches.

Dagsa arrived on board Gulf Air flight GF 254 at 12:40 p.m.

Dagsa’s whole family was there: His mother Fortunata Dagsa Reyes, 65; half brother Ruben Reyes, 37, and Ruben’s wife, Angelita, 28; son Albert, 22; and daughter Analisa, 25.

Mr. Arroyo thanked God for Dagsa’s release, despite the fact that it was slightly delayed. "Thank God the 23 seamen are here. He was the one left behind, but he did not let go and, now, here he is."

"We would also not let him go and, so, the President’s order to Ambassador Aguiluz and myself were that, as much as possible, we should bring the 23 seamen home with us," Mr. Arroyo said.

In introducing Dagsa, the First Gentleman said, "(Dagsa’s) mother is happy, his family is happy, the other 22 seamen are happy, they are all happy — that is why we are happy too."

"All of this, he said, is for the greater glory of God," Mr. Arroyo said, quoting the Latin school motto of the Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU). "Ad majorie dei gloriam (All for the greater glory of God)."

The seamen’s freedom did not come cheap: P9 million was put together by Aguiluz, who raised P1.5 million, and Mr. Arroyo, who raised P7.5 million, for a scaled-down payment of the seamen’s total 2.9 dirham (P29 million) debt.

The Filipinos, along with 16 Indians deployed by the Gulf Agency Company (GAC) were arrested for non-payment of debts stemming from complaints filed with the Abu Dhabi authorities by three banks in the UAE.

Then GAC finance manager Stanley Pereira duped the Filipinos and Indians into signing documents acknowledging the bank loans.

In exchange, Pereira gave each of the seamen 2,500 to 3,000 dirhams and assured them he and his sons would pay the loans they had acknowledged. He never paid the loans.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) administrator Virgilio Angelo said the 23 OFWs will be given financial assistance.

Besides the seed money for business, the seamen will be given scholarship benefits for their children, free medical check-ups and training and retraining in basic and refresher courses to upgrade their seaman’s skills, Angelo said. Those who choose to stay home will be included in the government’s livelihood assistance program, he added.