DAMMAM: Distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have air tickets may now be allowed to exit the Kingdom through the intercession of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) with Saudi immigration authorities. Distressed OFWs are those abandoned by their employers, who are either independently working or are unemployed, run-away housemaids and beauticians, workers who left their jobs, those who overstayed after performing Umrah, Haj and other religious obligations, and others without proper documentation like an Iqama. “Immigration authorities have now sort of relaxed the rules applied to these distressed workers by requiring POLO to make the official endorsement for their final exit provided they (the workers) have air tickets,” a POLO official said. He said the latest batch of OFWs who were granted departure from the Kingdom via the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam with air tickets provided by the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh was composed of eight mothers and 11 children. He said the Philippine Embassy is encouraged – and thankful - for the gesture of the Saudi government in allowing distressed OFWs with readily available air tickets to exit the Kingdom. He added however that the usual formalities of repatriating foreign workers are still enforced, including the contacting of employers, if they are identified and reachable, to ask whether they have any objection to the deportation of the workers. “The Philippine government is now exerting all possible avenues in securing the needed air tickets so that our distressed workers will be able to return home and be united with their families,” the POLO official said. He said a system of securing air tickets for distressed OFWs has been adopted by POLO. “First we at POLO will request the recruitment agencies that deployed the worker to provide the air ticket; if the agency is unable to comply, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will provide the ticket, provided the subject OFW is a member of the OWWA. “If the worker is not an OWWA member, then the Migrant Workers Affairs Section of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs will be requested to provide the ticket, which was the case with the eight mothers and 11 children who recently departed for Manila.” According to POLO officials, distressed OFWs who have no means of securing air tickets will have to wait until their entitlement for a ticket comes. However, if a distressed OFW is able to buy his own ticket, then his exit from the Kingdom will be faster. “The Philippine Embassy is exerting all efforts to repatriate our distressed OFWs through the cooperation and leniency of the immigration office and Ministry of Interior,” the POLO official said.
