Villar asks OWWA to account for repatriation funds

SENATE President Manuel Villar, who paid for the plane tickets home of several stranded overseas Filipino workers in Jordan, yesterday asked the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to account for its repatriation funds for OFWs.

He also criticized OWWA for its failure to immediately repatriate distressed OFWs who have escaped from their abusive foreign employers. He said most of the stranded OFWs that he helped bring home Monday from Jordan have been languishing in embassy shelters for more than eight months.

"Sana naman magising na ang OWWA at ilabas na ang pondo nila kung may natitira pa para matulungan ang ating mga kababayan," Villar said. "Hindi natin alam kung saan dinadala 'yun. Ganunpaman, gusto kong dagdagan pa ang kanilang budget."

Villar said he would request the Department of Budget and Management to augment OWWA's repatriation fund if there had been a shortfall. He also said OWWA should not discriminate against distressed OFWs who have no proper documentation. "Isa pang problema, ang OWWA kasi ay pwede lamang magbigay ng pamasahe na medyo delayed pa, doon lamang sa mga properly documented OFWs. Para sa akin, maski properly documented iyan o hindi, dapat tulungan sila dahil mga Pilipino iyan," he stressed.

Villar said five more distressed female OFWs in Abu Dhabi who have been awaiting repatriation will finally arrive at NAIA on April 24, bringing to 15 the number of OFWs he has helped bring home. The five are Lea Malunes, 27, from Camarines Sur; Salama Bakal, 28, from Cotabato City; Bernadette Romero, 38, from Cavite; Luciana Lunar, 44, from Batangas; and Fennie Tiletile, 48, from Tagum City.

Villar said the OFWs all ran away from their employers due to overwork, maltreatment, and insufficient food. At least three of them, particularly Bakal, Romero and Lunar, have been ill and need medical attention.

Villar is also set to file a resolution urging the Senate to probe the increasingly rampant illegal recruitment of minors.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration head Rosalinda Baldoz said human trafficking charges are being prepared against the illegal recruiters who sent the six minors aged between 13 to 17 years to work as maids in Jordan. The six were passed off as 24-year-olds.

Baldoz said the NAIA task force on illegal recruitment will handle the case of the teenagers.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates chapter of Migrante International yesterday asked senators and congressmen to jointly conduct a fact-finding mission to the Middle East to see for themselves the deplorable condition of runaways and distressed Filipino migrant workers in deportation centers there.

Nhel Morona, secretary general of Migrante-UAE said the mission could gather information that will be used to come up with legislation that would address the problem of runaways and distressed OFWs.

Migrante Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said Philippine officials abroad often submit "sugar-coated" reports about OFWs' situations in deportation centers and Philippine resource centers. "This was clearly manifested by the case of 30-year old OFW Ryan Castillo from Batangas, who died after contracting a disease inside the overcrowded deportation center in Jeddah, as revealed by his fellow OFW Armand Navarro who was just repatriated," Monterona said, adding that Migrante is willing to help the fact-finding team which should also include representatives from the Commission on Human Rights. - Dennis Gadil, Job Realubit and Gerard Naval