Hard times

Engr. Domingo Yalung

Domingo Yalung is a mechanical engineer who led a group of Filipinos in May 2003, in complaining to their employer the deduction of iqama fees from their salaries.

But the other Filipinos feared losing their jobs and backed out of the complaint, leaving Yalung to face the ire of the management who retaliated by handing out the 30-day notice of termination of contract starting June 30, 2003, at least sixty days before it was due to expire.

He was on 'floating' status since then and by August, he requested the company for an exit visa and was promptly refused.

He went to the Saudi police authorities to report his case but again the company retaliated by filing charges of embezzlement worth SR 16,000.00, based on an uncollected maintenance account.

Yalung was promptly arrested and imprisoned for at least 17 days until he was acquitted by the Saudi Court.

He started to hang out with fellow 'stranded' OFWs and became a member of KAMI-SR soon after.

On December 10, together with fellow KAMI-SR members they went to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) to follow up on their cases.

A brief spat ensued between Yalung and the taxi driver over an additional SR5 transport fare prompting the Saudi Diplomatic police to arrest him.

After a few hours though, with the assistance of POLO staff sent by Labor Attache Manuel Roldan, he was freed only to find out that he cannot go back at his friend's house because apparently, the friend's employer found out he was being put up there.

It is illegal in Saudi laws to allow 'outsiders,' especially those without valid permits - i.e. runaways, to stay in the accommodations usually provided them by the employers.

Since then, Yalung and the other runaways have been roaming Riyadh for a place to stay during the cold nights.

MIGRANTE Saudi Arabia
06 January 2004

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