PRESS STATEMENT

29 December 2003

For Reference:
John Monterona
Vice Chairperson
Spokesperson

The biggest group of OFWs and their families challenges newly appointed foreign affairs secretary Delia Domingo Albert to “take up the cudgels for distressed overseas Filipinos, a task that the late Secretary Blas Ople failed to do as secretary.”

We are quite informed of Secretary Albert 36-year service record at the foreign office. But for overseas Filipinos and their families, this track record of service is relatively unknown, if any. She assumes the Department of Foreign Affairs leadership that has been generally negligent to our compatriots who are in distressful situations abroad under the late Secretary Ople.

Secretary Albert’s appointment has come at a time the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has viciously removed 16 Filipino hunger strikers from the chancery and handed over to police on December 21. The 16 workers also say they have received death threats for speaking out against the Philippine chancery.

The stranded workers, who ran away from abusive employers, were shackled and escorted to a hospital by police and later released, say the threats come from goons allegedly hired by embassy officials. All they pleaded for via the hunger strike was for their immediate repatriation that the DFA can easily do when it musters the political will to take action.

Today, they are hiding in different places because of the threats of arrest, detention and torture.

We strongly recommend that Secretary Albert, for starters, must recall all embassy officials for being at the head of these actions that violate the rights of distressed OFWs. Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla, Consuls Jainal Rasul and Mariano Dumia, must immediately be recalled and charged with dereliction of duties to help OFWs. The 16 hunger strikers and the rest of the 300 stranded workers must be immediately repatriated.

If these types of diplomatic personnel man Philippine posts abroad, our embassies and consulates will never be sanctuaries for overseas Filipinos. The officials of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh should be removed because of the shameless way the hunger strike of the stranded OFWs was effectively terminated.

This would be a good first step for Secretary Albert to stamp her brand of leadership at the foreign affairs, if she so desires to address distressed OFWs in need of immediate and appropriate assistance.#

CONTACT ADDRESS:
Migrante Sectoral Party
[email protected]
National Office: 115-B Kamuning Road,
Quezon City, Philippines