By Michaela del Callar
MANILA, (PNA) — Another batch of 43 undocumented Filipinos from Saudi Arabia who joined a Philippine government-organized repatriation will arrive in Manila Monday night barely two weeks before Saudi authorities resumed its crackdown on illegal foreign workers.
They will arrive at 11:10 p.m. on board Etihad Airways flight EY428, Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said, adding 15 more — seven children and eight women — are due to come home the following day.
The arrival this week of the two groups brings to 4,111 the total number of Filipinos who availed themselves of Manila’s repatriation program.
Of this figure, 2,270 are from Riyadh and eastern region while 1,837 are from Jeddah.
As the amnesty deadline for illegal workers in Saudi Arabia draws near, many undocumented Filipinos are scrambling to get exit visas so they can return to the Philippines and evade arrest by immigration authorities.
“We continue to urge our kababayans to take advantage of the Saudi government’s repatriation and regularization program which will end on November 2,” Hernandez said.
Last March, Saudi imposed a crackdown on illegal workers, which led to thousands of arrests and deportations, because of the “Saudization” policy that encourages the employment of Saudi nationals and documented workers in private firms.
Saudi King Abdullah first ordered a three-month delay to the arrests of illegal migrant workers last April 6.
A four-month extension was again approved by the Saudi King following appeals from the Philippines and other countries with undocumented workers in Saudi Arabia – home to more than 1 million Filipinos.
The previous crackdown forced hundreds of illegal Filipino workers to set up camps outside the premises of the country’s consulate in Jeddah and the embassy in Riyadh, hoping their presence near a diplomatic mission would give them protection and prevent their arrest.