11 stranded OFWs arriving today

AT least 11 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including four minors and a two-month old baby, are set to arrive early this afternoon via Thai Airways after being stranded in Jordan for almost a year.

The OFWs, who ran away from their abusive Jordanian employers, were repatriated through the efforts of the office of Senate President Manuel Villar.

Avic Amarillo, Villar's senior media officer, said the identities of the OFWs are being kept confidential until their arrival and clearance by the immigration department.

She said Villar chanced upon the distressed OFWs in Jordan on his way to South Africa for the annual Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) summit. She said Villar, the richest senator based on submitted Statement of Assets and Liabilities, is shouldering the air fare of the 11 OFWs although she did not say if the money would come from Villar's pocket or from his Senate funds.

Villar visited one of the OFW shelters in Jordan and met the stranded workers who asked him for help in getting back home.

Amarillo said their office coordinated the repatriation project with OWWA. As of last week, she said five of the 11 already had complete travel documents. "Clear na iyong lima. Hopefully we can complete the documentation of the remaining six OFWs on Saturday. We're doing our best so they can be repatriated on Sunday," she said.

Villar's staff said they are also coordinating with OWWA the repatriation of six workers, most of them young women, from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia who are expected home by April 25. The six also ran away from abusive employers.

"Gusto ni Sen. Villar na makauwi na sila dahil nakita niya ang kalagayan ng mga OFWs doon. Sana lang maayos kaagad ng OWWA ang kanilang mga exit visas," Amarillo said.

Villar is set to file a resolution seeking an investigation on how Filipino minors are able to get work and travel documents for points in the Middle East like Jordan and Jeddah and the liability if any of the immigration bureau, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration of the Department of Labor. - Dennis Gadil