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Monday, March 2, 2009

Please Help Our Kababayan In Saudi Arabia


From GMA News TV


OFW abandoned by employer in Saudi Arabia needs help getting out of ICU

03/02/2009 | 10:40 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Relatives of an ailing Filipino worker currently confined at an intensive care unit (ICU) of a Riyadh hospital appealed to embassy officials to provide the necessary assistance to facilitate his discharge from the hospital.

The hospital bill of Eduardo Reyes, 62, at the in Shemaisy Hospital has reached SAR 16,000 or P208,000 (SAR1=PhP13), according to his daughter Lailani Reyes Dumagsad of Silang, Cavite.

Dumagsag with the assistance from Migrante International lodged a formal complaint to the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) in a bid to demand immediate action to ensure the health condition and immediate repatriation of her ailing father.

Reports reaching Migrante International Chapter in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, showed that Reyes could be released anytime as soon as his medical bill is paid.

But A. M. Ociones, Migrante KSA chairperson, said that given the present situation, Reyes could not afford to settle his bill. Reyes has been abandoned by his employer for seven years.

He said embassy officials must immediately repatriate Reyes because all his legal documents are now expired.

Ociones in a letter to Philippine Ambassador Antonio Villamor and the office of OWWA’s Assistance to Nationals Service made the appeal to look into the condition of the ailing OFW after the relatives sought the group's assistance.

"Eduardo’s situation is very unfortunate. We hope he can be helped," Migrante-KSA said. - D’Jay Lazaro, GMANews.TV