Like dirt

Danny Mondragon

"The people in the Embassy, thinks of us like dirt," Danilo Mondragon, a 29 year old welder adds. "Pleading with them is like talking to a wall."

Mondragon together with Froilan de Guzman and Danny Jose Ladiana were workers of Al Shaalan Al Othman Co., reportedly a sub-contractor of the Saudi Labor Ministry who do not issue "iqama" (or foreign workers' identification) to any of their workers.

"Not even one," de Guzman quips. "The Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis in that company finishes more than two years of work without having iqamas, and now, without any hope of going home."

The Saudi government has passed a new Circular, requiring the submission of a valid iqama for exit-reentry visa applications.

"The company even brought us to this workshop in Wadi Laban, a remote place about 40 kms. from Riyadh," Mondragon narrates further.

"To get a decent supply of water, we have to travel for 20 minutes and pay about 25 riyals from our own pocket."

Worse, their salaries are not given to them for months.

Froilan de Guzman

Mondragon did not receive his salary for six months, and, de Guzman and Ladiana, for three months each.

Three other Filipino co-workers are with the company still fighting it out for their hard-earned money.

"And yet, they (compatriots here) think we left the company to search for better oppurtunities, that we are lazy and hard-headed. Its ridiculous," Ladiana complains.

"We even resorted to begging in Batha but they only laughed at us."

MIGRANTE Saudi Arabia
06 January 2004

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