Massive crackdown of OFWs in Saudi Arabia

By the time this column sees print, thousands of undocumented OFWs shall have been arrested by Saudi police and immigration agents, booked for violation of their immigration and labor laws, jailed, and in due time, sentenced to imprisonment and to excessive fines and penalties. The minimum jail sentence is one year and the fine could reach up to a quarter of a million pesos for each undocumented Filipino migrant worker. We would like to stress the word ''undocumented'', not illegal. There is no illegal Filipino. They only have problems in documentation. They are victims not criminals. They need help. And the government is unable to deliver.

If the Philippine government would do everything possible to save a Filipino who is convicted for killing another, whether fellow OFW or Arabian national or other foreign worker, this is more reason to help these undocumented Filipinos in Arabian soil. They have not killed anybody. They have not stolen anything. They are just trying hard to help their families. Many of them are paying for the tuition fees of their children, and sending money regularly for rent, for medicines and for daily subsistence of many dependents who are jobless and cannot find decent jobs in our country. A good number of them have started small and micro businesses that perk up the economy in the countryside.

It has been reported by some NGOs in the Middle East that more than 25,000 undocumented Filipinos since January this year, have sought the assistance of the Philippine Embassy. Many of them, children and senior citizens included, have camped out in tents outside the Consular Office in Jeddah. The national government knows their plight from the very start, since our embassy and labor offices on the ground have not been remiss in sending the immediate and appropriate reports to their respective principal offices. But our politicians and bureaucrats have been too busy, filibustering and posturing on the PDAF, or saving victims of calamities and fighting rebellions in Mindanao. No one really focused on the OFWs.

The vice president belatedly sent a last-minute letter-appeal to HE King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a few days before the long weekend. And the presidential spokesman announced that the government is on top of the situation. That was all for show. The fact is, the government is not managing the problem well. First of all, that letter was too late. We had one year to do our work. We waited for the deadline, and we expect the king to give in. The king had already given too much to us. He even donated more than P30 million pesos to pay for the blood money that saved that OFW who killed the man who tried to rape him. Secondly, that letter was breach of protocol. Why didn't the president himself sign that letter, head of state to head of state, instead of the vice president. In Arab culture, that was a grave insult to the Saudi royalty.

A few weeks ago, our Governor Junjun Davide called this writer to ask for help concerning a Cebuano who has a loved one who is in distress in Saudi. I did my part. Until now, the government has not given me the information or the assistance that the governor is asking. When I was labor attaché to three countries, I did help governors, mayors and congressmen whose constituencies were in distress. I recommended to both Governor Davide and Mayor Mike Rama the creation of an ad hoc coordinating unit under the Office of the Governor and the Mayor respectively. We need to do this because the OWWA and the POEA are not accessible nor have the time to help. It seems they are more focused on sending people abroad, than helping them when they are in trouble.

By the time, this column sees print, the government would still be waiting for a word from the king. Governor Davide would still be waiting for my feedback, and I would be waiting for a word from those who are tasked to do their jobs. In the meanwhile, thousands of our nationals are being arrested and languishing in jails? What is happening to our government then?