10 members of OFW group nabbed in S. Arabia

MANILA, Philippines – Police have detained 10 leaders, members and employees of an overseas Filipino workers’ group in Saudi Arabia on suspicion that they were harboring runaway OFWs who had been charged criminally by their employers.

Saudi lawmen raided the office of Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan (KGS, Brotherhood in the Middle East) in Riyadh on Friday at 3 p.m., said John Leonard Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East, which counts KGS as a member organization.

“We confirm that the safe house of KGS, a member organization of Migrante, where distress and runaway OFWs are temporarily seeking refuge, was raided by the local police last Friday,” said Monterona in a statement sent to the Inquirer.

Ten KGS members, officers and three other employees were taken to the Bahdiya Police Station in Riyadh for investigation, while five female OFWs were brought to the Malaz jail.

Monterona said the KGS office was conducting its weekly case dialogues and counseling OFWs—victims of abuse who had run away from their employers.

Migrante-ME and other KGS officials were working on the release of the 10 KGS officers and five OFWs. They also notified the Philippine embassy of the incident.

At press time, one KGS leader was released while the rest remained under investigation.

Monterona, who is based in Riyadh, denied the Saudi police’s claims that the KGS was harboring workers who had been charged by their employers with absconding (stealing), a crime in the Middle Eastern kingdom.

“Keep in mind that distressed and runaway OFWs are victims, not criminals,” he said, explaining that KGS officers merely gave advice to abused OFWs before formally turning them over to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

The KGS, which was established in 1980, has been providing assistance to OFWs in trouble and “it can’t simply turn its back on abused and maltreated OFWs seeking its help despite restrictions imposed by the host country,” Monterona said. –Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer