Why repatriation takes some time

RINA JIMENEZ-DAVID WROTE in her Dec. 2 column (“Giving migrant workers a voice”) that she heard a group of women OFWs complaining, over dzMM, that their repatriation from Dubai were delayed by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

The OFWs had run away from their employers and allegedly “languished for months in a refuge at the embassy in Dubai” because they were told by OWWA that there was no money for their air tickets until dzMM raised fares from donors.

Please allow us to set the record straight.

1. OWWA has sufficient funds to pay for the repatriation of its members. Repatriation, however, is not a simple matter of obtaining plane tickets. Workers flying out of Dubai (and other Middle East countries) must show to the immigration office that their employers have cleared them for departure.

2. The subject OFWs were reported to Dubai’s immigration police as “runaways,” breaching their contracts. Under the laws of Dubai, they had overstayed and turned illegal aliens. Overstaying is considered in Dubai as an immigration/police case, not a labor case.

3. The OFWs did not “languish for months in a refuge.” They were sheltered at the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) supervised by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) and taken care of by the welfare officers while their repatriation was being worked out. Our POLO spent some time negotiating with the employers to release them, return their passports and issue the corresponding exit clearance.

4. OWWA paid the penalties and fines imposed on the workers for overstaying to be able to obtain the clearance for the workers.

5. The workers were in “ready-to-depart” status as early as Nov. 10, 2009. But airline seats could not be confirmed and their “eye scan” at immigration had to be scheduled. They finally left Dubai last Nov. 26 and upon arrival the following day, they were met at the airport by OWWA officers who facilitated immigration and customs formalities.
6. ABS-CBN had earlier gone to the Philippine consulate in Dubai and requested for names of nine workers who traveled to Dubai on visit visas (considered undocumented) whom they could help repatriate. Since there were only two workers at the FWRC on visit visas at that time, ABS-CBN kindly included seven workers on the list.

7. OFWs who are sheltered at the FWRCs in the Gulf States are awaiting conclusion of the negotiations of the POLO/OWWA with the employers for immigration clearances. As soon as these are ready, the workers will be repatriated immediately. There is no reason for OWWA to delay their repatriation.

OWWA does not “dilly-dally” in shelling out money to help OFWs in trouble because we are fully aware that the funds are theirs, not government’s. Our role as mere caretaker and administrator of the funds is clear to us. –Philippine Daily Inquirer
—CARMELITA S. DIMZON,
administrator,
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration