SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
MANILA, Philippines – Around 50 to 100 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who were allegedly “assured by their employers of protection,” remain in strife-torn Yemen despite the Philippine foreign affairs department’s call for mandatory repatriation, the government said.
“The usual reason is that they did not like to lose their jobs, even if we assured them the government will allow them to return once the situation normalizes,” read a report by the Philippine Rapid Reaction Team (RRT) deployed there.
“Rather, they asked for more time and give more alibis for not leaving Yemen. Some of them turned off their mobile phones whenever we called them,” Labor Attaché Musa said in another report.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on Wednesday, May 13, pleaded for the return of the remaining Filipino migrant workers in the southern Arab state.
The RRT is stationed at the safe exit route through the Jizan-Saudi border in Yemen to take Filipinos back to the Philippines by first evacuating them to Jeddah.
“I beg you to take into consideration your safety, for the sake of your loved ones, your families, in the Philippines,” Baldoz said.
Musa said the April 30 deadline set by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the RRT was extended until May 8.
Yemen is host to a number of overseas Filipino workers, with the nurses as the largest occupational group.
Other Filipinos work as welders and flame cutters, mechanical engineers, electrical wiring workers, production supervisors, riggers and cable splicers, midwives, geodetic surveyors, machine fitters and assemblers, automotive technicians, machine tool operators, and construction workers.
In 2014 alone, at least 4,326 Filipino migrant workers were deployed to Yemen. Of the Yemen-based Filipino workers in 2014, 1,503 were new hires and 2,823 were re-hires.
Some 77 Filipinos are permanent residents in Yemen and 75 are irregular workers, according to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO).
Volatile security
A Saudi-led coalition had launched a series of air strikes on Huthi rebel camps in Yemen, including the rebel-seized airport in the troubled state, making it harder to evacuate civilians.
War planes of an anti-Huthi coalition of Arab states started bombing key areas in Yemen on March 27 in a bid to quell the alleged Iran-backed Shiite rebellion and keep Yemen President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in power.
As early as February 19, the Philippine DFA placed Yemen under Alert Level 4 due to volatile security. Alert Level 4 means a mandatory pull-out of all Filipino workers there and a deployment ban on new ones.
Filipinos who are still in Yemen must contact the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh for their return through the following numbers: 730187540, 737426292, 733844958, 730194165.
They can also email the embassy at cmt-sanaa@riyadhpe.com.
Countries like India and Pakistan have airlifted their citizens from the affected areas of the southern Arab state.
The Philippines is a known labor-sending country. Over 10.5 million Filipinos are either temporarily working or permanently residing abroad, according to the 2013 CFO Compendium of Statistics. More recent estimates peg the number at 15 million.
While OFWs’ remittances boost the economy, President Benigno Aquino III envisions “a government that creates jobs at home so that working abroad will be a choice rather than a necessity.” – Rappler.com
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.