ConGen Tago Responds

A few days ago, Migrante KSA filed an appeal in behalf of various distressed women and requested for a dialogue with the Consulate. After two langourous weeks and numerous appeals, newly installed Consul General Ezzedin Tago relented and met with your Migrante Saudi Coordinator and Migrante Jeddah Chairperson Bob Fajarito on Thursday, 17 January 2008.

In an email addressed to Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) Women's Coordinator Esther C. Bangcawayan, ConGen Tago described the results in his own words:

... I wish to inform you that I have met with Mr. Andrew Ociones of
Migrante KSA yesterday at my office. We discussed the status of the cases
mentioned in his email, in particular the cases of 5 OFWs also mentioned in your
email.

Please allow me to reiterate the status of the cases of :

1. Ms. Laura Aya Torres: She was visited at the Deportation by the staff of the Consulate. She has been transferred to another area within deportation which means that she is being prepared for deportation soon. The Consulate staff will follow up the matter so she could leave for the Philippines as soon as possible.
2. Ms. Noralyn Mamasalagat: I have discussed her case with
   both the Labor Attache and Welfare Officer. As the recruitment agency in Manila has been delisted, the POLO Jeddah will request OWWA to provide her a ticket so she could leave the kingdom before the expiration of her exit visa on 23 January.
3. Ms. Marilou Salazar: The Consulate staff accompanied her twice to Aquiq to identify the residence of her employer to determine the police station which has jurisdiction over her case/complaint. Despite due diligence, we were not able to identify her employer’s address. The hospital will not take necessary action on her examination unless there is a referral from the Police which will not accept her complaint unless filed at the station with jurisdiction over the case. She has stressed her desire to return to the
   Philippines as soon as possible, which she also conveyed to Mr. Andrew Ociones yesterday.
4. The cases of Ms. Dukay and Aiko have been referred to the Labor Attache,
   and I shall provide you a status of their cases as soon as I receive the same
   from him.

Further updates to follow.

Very truly yours,
Ezzedin Tago
Consul General

So there!

Any dialogue is never enough though. Since ConGen Tago is still new in the office, Migrante KSA opts to wait for the promised results, while remaining vigilant.

More on Migrante KSA's visit to the Consulate in Jeddah next time.

16 Detainees in Dammam

On 16th of January, Migrante Saudi Arabia received the following appeal/s from a certain "Jaime T. Gonzaga" (jaime.gonzaga@aramco.com) in the Eastern Region concerning 16 OFWs "languishing" in the detention cells of the Immigration Police in Dammam. His email says:

Goodday Sir!

Please find below message being circulated in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia re "Kababayan" languishing in Jawasat Dammam jail.

If you are still not aware of this, kindly provide the necessary action to alleviate them from their present predicament. Thank you very much and God bless us all.

What follows was a lengthy email forwarded and re-forwarded by our kababayans, a virtual example of how information is passed on in the age of internet. The email as originally posted by a certain Jeorge G. Antido on 12 January reads:

-----Original Message-----
From: Antido, Jeorge G
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 9:56 AM
Subject: FW: Jawasat Eastern Detainee

Paki forward nalang kasi kawawa naman.

Regards,

Sent email:
Galing ako kanina sa Jawasat Dammam, Bale may 16 na Pinoy ang naka Kulong mostly ang kaso ay Runaway. Kinuha ko ang mga pangalan nila at paki Post mo sa site natin, Baka may mga mkakilala sa kanila, dahil matatagal na don sa loob,

01. Ronnie M. Tosoc
02. Elmer Santillan
03. Juvy Malasig
04. Romeo Cuaresma
05. Amon Atong
06. Zaldy Malang
07. Nilo Bagasiha
08. Eddie Mallari
09. Arnold Kamansa
10. Jaime Mendoza
11. Danny Lagramada
12. Daniel Cobar
13. Dindo Elmido
14. Cesar Maximo
15. Imbronito Punay
16. Jonathan Tabilas

Thanks,

Migrante KSA immediately issued an appeal and sent it to the concerned government agencies, among them the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh to address our kababayan's concern.

And today, we received the response from Labor Attache David Des T. Dicang of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) Eastern Region Operations which explains, among other things:

(1) That six out of the total 16 OFWs mentioned in the email including
Elmer Santillan, Romeo Cuaresma, Zaldy Malang, Nilo Bagasina, Arnold Kamansa and Daniel Cobar were already repatriated; while,

(2) The remaining ten were not really "matagal na doon sa loob" as the
earliest were registered only on 28 November last year.

Migrante KSA expresses our deep gratitude for LabAtt Dicang's immediate response and thus we unite with him when he requests that interested parties "be accurate in the facts they post via email or they wish to disseminate for the benefit of all".

We can only hope that POLO in the Eastern Region (and elsewhere) would be able to address the issues of distressed OFWs in a timely and decisive manner, the way POLO-ERO responded to our appeal.

Guilty?

Notes ni Droidz

Tulad ng dati, mukhang guilty na naman ang Konsulada sa kasong pagpapabaya sa mga kababayang in-distress. Isang halimbawa nito ang kaso ni Marie/Ana, isang biktima ng panggagahasa na hindi naipa-medical hanggang noong Dec. 30 gayong dumating sya sa Welfare Center noon pang Dec. 25 (inaalam pa kung naipa-medical na sya ngayon).

Idagdag pa rito ang kaso ni Aya.

Si Laura "Aya" Torres ay kasalukuyang nasa ika-7 buwan ng pagbubuntis at kasalukuyang naka-detine hanggang ngayon sa deportation ng Jeddah. Kung tutuusin, madali sanang maiayos ang kanyang release o "deportation" dahil sa kanyang kalagayan (humanitarian reason kumbaga) pero hindi ito ang nangyari.

Ang totoo, hinuli rin kasabay ni Aya ang isang mag-ina - runaway ang babae at iilang buwan pa lang ang sanggol - ngunit hindi na nagtagal sa detention at nai-deport din kaagad pauwi sa Pilipinas dahil sa humanitarian reason.

Inaresto si Aya ng Immigration Police noong Nobyembre 2007 nang i-raid ang kanilang tinitirhan dahil diumano sa report na mayroong mga mag-asawa doon na may pekeng marriage contract. Nang magbulatlat ang mga pulis, napansin na hindi nagtutugma ang pangalan sa iqama (residential working permit) at identification papers na ipinakita ni Aya kaya kinasuhan ng falsification of documents. Dahil kakaiba ang kaso, hindi sya agad nakasabay sa mga pinauwi.

Pero naayos naman kaagad ang kaso nya sa Immigration, na-delay nga lang ang processing ng papeles nang magsimula ang opisyal na holiday humigit-kumulang 7-araw bago ang Eid Al-Adha mula Dec. 18 hanggang Dec. 23.

Matapos ang holiday, naayos din sa wakas ang papeles nya sa Immigration kaya pwede na daw syang ipa-deport. Ang problema, suspendido naman ang serbisyo ng Konsulada dahil sa mahabang holiday kaya hindi sya mabigyan-bigyan ng travel document para makauwi sana bago man lang mag-New Year.

Ayon sa direktiba ni Ambassador Antonio Villamor, suspendido ang mga transaksyon sa Embahada at Konsulada mula Dec. 15 hanggang Jan. 1 maliban na lamang sa mga sumusunod na araw: Dec 26, 27 at 29.

Payag na akong kauna-unawa ito dahil official holiday sa Pilipinas ang mga petsang Dec. 24-25 (Pasko), Dec. 30 (Rizal Day) at Dec 31-Jan 1 (Bagong Taon).

Gayunman ayon nga sa isang news report, patuloy dapat na aako ng mga emergency cases ang mga opisyal ng konsulada sa panahong walang pasok. Dahil buntis, pwede sanang ikunsidera na emergency case ang kaso ni Aya, pero hindi nga ito ginawa.

Sa ulat ng Welfare Committee ng Migrante Jeddah, hawak na raw ng Konsulada ang passport ni Aya kaya madali nang ayusin kung tutuusin (kumpara sa mga kaso na walang passport na kailangan pang mag-type ng travel document, etc). Kung gayon, hindi mauubos ang dalawa at kalahating araw na bukas ang consular office para maasikaso ang pag-uwi ni Aya pero hindi nga din ito ang nangyari.

Gusto kong unawain na busy ang mga tauhan ng Konsulada ng Jeddah dahil sa mga magkakapatong na dahilan: una, ang pagbuhos ng mga kababayan na nag-Hajj; ang panunumpa, pag-upo at siguro'y adjustment ng bagong katatalagang Consul-General Ezzedin Tago; at ikatlo, ang magkasunod na pagdiriwang ng Eid-Al-Adha at Pasko.

Pero sabi ko nga, hindi naman siguro napakahirap at hindi uubos ng nakaparaming oras ang kinakailangang hakbang para makauwi si Aya.

Pwera na lang siguro kung hihintayin pa natin na manganib ang buhay ng sanggol sa sinapupunan ni Aya dahil sa mahirap na kalagayan sa loob ng detention.

* * *

See also: http://migrante-ksa.blogspot.com/2008/01/guilty.html