Advisory No. 2011/_____
Date: 29 January 2011
Filcom and Consulate join hands for OFWs under Kandara Bridge
Persistent representations with the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs Makkah Branch and the Jeddah Passport Directorate (Jawazat) finally bore fruit, when in the early evening of 24 January, a group of overstaying OFWs (runaways/absconders) consisting of one hundred and twenty four (124) women and children were picked up from under the Kandara Bridge and taken to the deportation center.
The group included the reported forty (40) or so who had camped at the place since the middle of this month seeking on their own volition to be apprehended and deported eventually by Saudi authorities. On the other hand, the rest rushed to the bridge, from wherever they were in Jeddah, when the pick-up was being made.
However, despite the pick-up, the meeting on the issue of OFWs under the Kandara Bridge between the Consulate officials (Consul Leo Tito L. Ausan, Jr., Officer-in-Charge of the Consulate; Vice Consul Lorenzo Rhys Jungco; Labatt Vicente Cabe and Weloff Benny Reyes) and leaders/representatives of the Filipino community in Jeddah went on nevertheless as scheduled in the evening of 25 January. Aware that the convergence of overstaying OFWs who are runaways/absconders is a continuing, if not a recurring issue in Jeddah (it has, in fact, recurred despite the voluntary repatriation by the Consulate of about 2,400 of them in 2010 alone), all the participants to the meeting wanted to devise a cooperative & coordinative scheme by which the Consulate and the Jeddah Filipino Community could systematically and efficiently extend assistance to those who would again camp in Kandara in the near future.
On the basis of the briefing conducted by Consul Ausan that highlighted the recent increase in lodging rates at the Hajj terminals (50% starting 01 January 2011) and the unavailability of funds for immediate repatriation at this time, consensus was reached that the Consulate and the Jeddah Filcom must indeed join hands to provide assistance to future groups of OFWs who would camp under the Kandara Bridge. Instead of taking these OFWs to the Hajj terminal (where they could stay for a lodging fee as they await admission to the deportation center), they would instead remain under the Kandara Bridge. This would result into some savings in funds which could in turn be utilized for the purchase of plane tickets for repatriation.
While the overstaying OFWs are at Kandara Bridge, the Consulate shall then work very hard to make representations with Saudi authorities to have them admitted into the deportation center in the soonest time possible. While awaiting their admission to the deportation center, all material, financial and informational assistance coming from the Jeddah Filipino Community shall be gathered by and centrally coursed through a Steering Group composed of Vice Consul Lorenzo Rhys Jungco & Weloff Benny Reyes (representing the Consulate) and five (5) representatives from the Filcom organizations namely: Boy Cornejo of KASAPI; Fred Castolome/Atoy Esguerra of OFWCC; Chairman Danny Londonio of Bicol Saro; Teng Laguialam of FILSAMA; and Roy Naron of PGBI. It shall then be conveyed by the Steering Group to the OFWs with the help of volunteer Filcom organizations, which will be tapped on rotation basis.
With the aforesaid arrangement, the attendees from the twenty two (22) organizations represented, expressed optimism and anticipated that recurrence at anytime of cases when OFWs camp under the Kandara Bridge could be better managed from now on. In turn, Consul Ausan thanked them for their presence, support and cooperation, for and in behalf of Consul General Ezzedin H. Tago and all of Jeddah PCG officers and staff.
2011/POL/PR-______-Atn