19 undocumented Pinoy workers nabbed in Saudi Arabia

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At least 19 undocumented overseas Filipino workers were arrested in a raid in the Dammam area last March 30, militant migrant worker group Migrante said on Good Friday.

In a post on its blog site, Migrante said the raid was undertaken jointly by Mottawa police and Jawasat, local immigration police.

Migrante-Eastern region case officer Marcial Abay Jr., in an April 3 letter to Philippine labor attaché Adam Musa, said the 19 OFWs were detained in Dammam Central jail. Of the 19, 10 are women with children and one is pregnant.

The group identified the 19 as:

- Willie Formalejo
- Roberto Bautista
- Hermoso Morales
- Teodorico Orlino
- Adelino Oroy
- Michael Quiliza
- Rey Domingo
- Ronaldo Go
- Genaro Valenzuela
- Edna Yuson (pregnant)
- Aida Bautista
- Maribel Jimena
- Dolores Reno
- Diane Cunado
- Luz Palo
- Apple Joy Constantino
- Baby Jehad
- Jheny Cayabo
- Jennifer Cortiz

“We have been informed that until now there’s no embassy or any Philippine government officials who visited the detained OFWs,” Abay said.

Migrante-Saudi Arabia urged Philippine embassy officials to provide legal assistance by immediately deploying its legal team for a jail visit.

For his part, Migrante Middle East coordinator John Monterona said the number of undocumented OFWs in Saudi Arabia is now at 8,000.

“We are quite sure that in other mid-east countries such as Kuwait, UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, there could be thousands more undocumented,” Monterona said.

He said most of the undocumented OFWs ran away from their employers after being subjected to abuses and labor malpractices such as non-payment of salaries, working more than eight hours, getting no day off or overtime pay.