26 July 2005 – The Philippine Embassy to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that two Filipino drivers whose contracts expired late last year will return to the Philippines this September following negotiations with the employer of the OFWs on their repatriation with payment of end-of-contract benefits.

Ambassador Bahnarim A. Guinomla said that drivers Angelito Fernandez and Daniel Lozano were employed by the Al-Jeri Transport company and that their employment contracts expired on 4 November 2004 and 30 November 2004, respectively.      OFW Fernandez has been calling and texting Ambassador Guinomla on their desire to be repatriated following the expiration of his contract and that of co-workers Lozano.     Earlier, Mr. Fernandez complained to Ambassador Guinomla that the company refused to repatriate them despite the completion of their contracts.

In response to the complaint, Ambassador Guinomla spoke to the representative of Al-Jeri Transport company in Jeddah and then instructed the Embassy staff including  Labor Attaché Bulyok Nilong of the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah to coordinate with the company, which finally agreed to allow Fernandez and Lozano to leave at the end of September 2005.   OFW Fernandez thanked the Ambassador for his personal intervention in their problem.

OFWs Fernandez and Lozano informed Ambassador Guinomla that they were part of the group that the Ambassador had visited in the Saudi-Iraqi border in Ar-Ar last year whom the Ambassador dissuaded from entering Iraq following the kidnapping and subsequent release of OFW Angelo dela Cruz in July 2004.

Following the closure of the KSA border with Iraq and strict implementation by the Embassy of the ban on the deployment of OFWs to Iraq, the Al-Jeri Transport  company transferred its operation in Jeddah along the old Makkah Road.    OFW Fernandez and Lozano said their work with the company  takes them to the north in Tabuk close to the Saudi-Jordanian border. END
 
 
 
 
 

/epa