OWWA men squeeze airfare money from stranded workers 03/02/2011

OWWA men squeeze airfare money from stranded workers

03/02/2011
As a senator complained about the snail-paced repatriation of distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Libya, stranded OFWs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, complained that Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) officials are collecting money for airfare.

A chapter of OFW support group Migrante said President Aquino should issue an appropriate instruction to OWWA over the actions of its officials in Saudi Arabia.

“We have been receiving complaints from distressed and stranded OFWs, who are now at the deportation center, cell nos. 14 and 16, that OWWA officials are asking them to pay for their airfare tickets so that they could be repatriated,” Marlon Gatdula, Migrante-Saudi Arabia deputy secretary-general, said.

Gatdula said the distressed and stranded OFWs at cell nos. 14 and 16 have been calling him since last week informing him that OWWA administrative officer Anthony Basil and Mashur Konting, OWWA case officer, allegedly had been asking the distressed and stranded OFWs an amount from 1,200 to 2,000 Saudi
Saudi riyals for their airfare tickets..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110302hed2.html