September 19, 2008

VILLAR IN JORDAN TO BRING HOME OFWs IN DISTRESS

Senate President Manny Villar is set to leave the country on Saturday for Jordan to personally facilitate the immediate repatriation of distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there.

Twenty Filipinas, some of them underage, who were maltreated and abused by their foreign employers, will be able to step on Philippine soil anew as Villar agreed to sponsor their return tickets. The 7-month old infant of one of the OFWs will also be coming home with them.

The initial list of OFWs set to be repatriated includes Nasria Abdulsamad (Cotabato City), Fatima Abeleda (Occidental Mindoro), Nayma Bagan (Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao), Bebina Bakundo (Basilan), Cherry Batulan (Cotabato City), Rosalie Cabrera (Mindanao), Myra Datulimba (Lanao del Sur), Elena de Mesa (Solano, Nueva Vizcaya), Marlyn de Ocampo (Batangas), Baiqueen Guiapal (Cotabato City), Norhaya Kamanga (Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao), Linda Manasal (Pikit, Cotabato), Wilma Maneja (Ilagan, Isabela), Samina Mensag (Dulawan, Maguindanao), Alma Nobleza (Antique), Digna Ramos (Isabela), Johaira Salendab (Molino, Cavite), Andrea Santocildes (Iloilo City), and Lorna Zoleta (Lopez, Quezon).

The OFWs, who all worked as household service workers, have various complaints such as sexual harassment, overworking, unpaid salaries and physical abuse.

“I’ll personally go to Jordan to check on the condition of our kababayans, especially the ones who experienced unfortunate conditions while working there. When I come back next week, I hope to bring them home to their loved ones,” Villar said.

Villar added he is on ‘business as usual mode’ despite the C-5 road issue.

“Let me assure our people that I have not lost sight of my responsibilities as Senate president and as a public servant to help advance the cause of protecting the more than eight million Filipinos working abroad,” he said.

Villar is scheduled to meet with his Jordanian counterpart Senate President Zeid Rifai in Amman, where he will take up the protection of Filipino migrant workers who are now covered by a new labor law recently passed in Jordan. The new law is set to be implemented after Ramadan.

The said repatriation of OFWs from Jordan sponsored by the Nacionalista Party president will be the third batch, with the first consisting of 140 OFWs sent home in March, and the second 40 in August, although day to day, one or two OFWs are also able to go home.

To be able to repatriate OFWs from Jordan, deployment and overstaying fees should be settled or requested to be waived before their exit clearances can be processed.

Villar and the OFWs are set to return to the Philippines on Monday, Sept. 22, at 11:05 a.m. via Gulf Air flight GF 154.