Will Arroyo gov't help undocumented Filipinos and gays in
Saudi Arabia crackdown?

The Migrante Sectoral Party questioned the Macapagal-Arroyo government's deafening silence on the ongoing crackdown on undocumented migrant workers and gays in Saudi Arabia, saying that hundreds of Filipinos may be unjustly arrested, detained and criminalized in the Kingdom.

"While the Saudi government is very vocal in its ongoing "crackdown on crime," the Philippine government has taken an indifferent stance on the situation. There are at least 1,000 stranded Filipinos across Saudi Arabia who will fall victim to the said crackdown," MIGRANTE Sectoral Party chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado said.

Saudi Arabia has tightened security and immigration procedures in the context of the United States government's war of terror. All migrants without work permits and other forms of identification papers will be arrested, detained and deported by air or sea.

"We are quite astonished at the silence of Malacanang, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine diplomatic posts in Saudi Arabia with the ongoing crackdown on migrants. Hundreds of stranded Filipino workers are languishing in the cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Khobar. These compatriots ran away from abusive employers and thus do not have their iqamas (work permits) and passports. Many of these stranded workers have also been slapped with trumped-up cases of theft and other misdemeanors and thus stand to get arrested with no chance of fair court proceedings and protection. It would be much worse for Filipino gays as when they are caught, they can be meted the death penalty for their sexual preference that is banned in the Kingdom," Bragas-Regalado said.

Reports in Middle East newspapers reveal that Saudi authorities launched a series of raids in Riyadh, Makkah, Taif and Jeddah in April as part of a "nationwide anti-crime campaign," including the rounding up of gays. There is no available data on the possible number of Filipino gays in the Kingdom

"So far, these reports said that undocumented migrants from Somalia, Chad, Yemen, Bangladesh and the Philippines have been arrested in April. The crackdown was temporarily stopped as the jails were filled to the brim after the first wave of raids. The silence of Philippine officials in Saudi Arabia on the actual number of Filipinos arrested shows that they are not concerned with the plight of runaway Filipino workers in the Kingdom," Bragas-Regalado said.

So far, no comments have come from the DFA and Philippine Ambassador Bahnarim Guinomla in Riyadh. There are at least 915,000 Filipinos in Saudi Arabia.

"Coupled with its silence on the fingerprinting procedure for all people - including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) - who enter Saudi Arabia, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration has accepted the Saudi government's all-embracing treatment of undocumented Filipino workers as criminals," Bragas-Regalado concluded. #