Post by Baqu3ro on Apr 21, 2008 11:42:48 GMT 8
RIYADH/MANILA -- Philippine Consul General Ezzedin Tago has confirmed that a Filipino worker died inside a crowded deportation cell in Jeddah on April 6.
The man reportedly posed as a pilgrim who had lost his identification and turned himself in to expedite his deportation.
Arman Navarro, a Filipino who was deported to Manila this week, identified the fatality as Ryan Castillo, a 30-year-old from Batangas City. The cause of death is unconfirmed, but Navarro claims Castillo contracted a disease inside the prison cell where he was brought by the Saudi immigration authorities and later succumbed to a heart attack.
“The death of the OFW (overseas Filipino worker) indeed raises many questions,” said a statement from Connie Bragas-Regalado, head of Migrante International, a Manila-based human rights group that advocates for Filipinos working overseas.
“If it’s true that he was already ill before being imprisoned, he should have been brought to a hospital and not a deportation center. His death and testimonies by the other OFWs also belie claims by Manila’s mission posts that they are closely monitoring the situation of the OFWs imprisoned and providing them necessary medicines and other items,” she said.
Migrante International, which has a branch in Riyadh, said that about 300 inmates of different nationalities are cramped inside a 40-foot by 40-foot cell. During the day, the detainees endure hot temperatures and sleep on cold cement floors at night, the report said.
Last Wednesday, acting Labor Secretary of the Philippines Marinito Roque announced that 62 Filipino workers stranded in various regions in Saudi Arabia were repatriated on April 15.
Tago said that the Philippine Consulate had not endorsed the man who died. Endorsement by the Philippine government is required for Filipinos before they can be held for deportation. This process is aimed at weeding out criminals seeking an easy way to flee the country incognito, as well as workers who walked away from their jobs and want to avoid the more complicated process of seeking clearance from their employers on a final-exit visa.
Regalado in the report also blamed Philippine Embassy officials for neglecting the welfare of the stranded Filipinos.
Some 200 stranded OFWs were reported earlier to have been rounded up by Saudi authorities while camped under the Kandara Bridge in Jeddah. These OFWs converged there hoping to be sent back home immediately.
Most of the stranded OFWs were runaways, have no work visa, or had a spat with their employers due to contract substitution or unpaid salaries.
Tago reiterated his warning to OFWs in Saudi Arabia not to pose as religious pilgrims that have lost identification papers in order to facilitate a quick exit out of the country.
-Ghazanfar Ali Khan & Gloria Esguerra Melencio
globalnation.inquirer.net