185 OFWs in Saudi want to come home before Christmas

MANILA, Philippines - Around 185 overseas Filipinos workers and their families in a halfway house in Saudi are now requesting the Philippine government to repatriate them before Christmas, a migrant workers' rights group said on Monday.

Migrante-Middle East said the distressed OFWs supposed stay in the Philippine embassy and consulate-run Bahay Kalinga and Filipino Workers Resource Centers (FWRCs) temporarily became permanent.

Many of them have been staying there for more three years, the group added.

“The distressed OFWs from Bahay Kalinga in Riyadh and Jeddah, respectively, and at POLO-OWWA shelter in Al-Khobar, all in Saudi Arabia, are regularly calling us to plead for their repatriation," Migrante said.

Migrante records show that there are about 100 distressed women OFWs, 30 of them with children, staying at the Bahay Kalinga in Riyadh, Saudi’s capital.

While at the FWRC inside the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah, there are 45 of them awaiting repatriation.

The group said that around 40 distressed women OFWs are also in Philippine Overseas Labor and Welfare offices in Al-Khobar, eastern part of Saudi Arabia.