Saudi- 130 stranded Filipino employees seek help

(MENAFN- Arab News) RIYADH: One hundred and thirty stranded Filipino workers here have launched an urgent plea for help to go home.
The workers are living in a two-room house that their embassy hired for them. The rooms can accommodate only 30 workers which had forced them to set up makeshift tents with tarpaulins on the grounds including around an empty swimming pool. These are now health hazards in the soaring temperatures.
They have appealed for help through social media websites particularly targeting embassy officials and the country's foreign affairs department in Manila.
'Some of us have been here for two years. We have workers with injuries and others who suffered heatstroke living inside the makeshift accommodation without air conditioning' said Rodelio S. Ocampo 34 spokesman for the workers.
'We hope that our beloved president attends to our appeal because we are in a very dire situation.' He said the villa close to Exit 8 in the city has been the home for 30 workers for two years. Others have been living there for between three months and two years he said.
'We are aware of the Saudi government's compassion and sense of humanity because of the manner in which they have been treating Yemen nationals. We came to this country to help with its development but were unfortunately abandoned by our employers. Some of us are without passports.'
He said that their plight could be resolved if the Philippine embassy has talks with the relevant Saudi ministry. 'We are not criminals our situation is purely about labor issues.' Ocampo said their plight is not 'good for the country and inconveniences those living in the neighborhood.'
Lorenzo G. Siron Jr. 62 of Dapdap Mabalacat Pampanga has been staying in a makeshift tent since March 2014. He claimed that his employer abused him forcing him to run away and seek assistance from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh.
To survive and continue sending money to his family he works part time jobs. He had an accident at a job on March 29 that caused severe injuries to his left hand.
Rodel Lozano 50 of Gua-gua Pampanga said he worked as a cook in Al-Kharj 120 km from Riyadh but suffered a stroke last year. He has appealed for help and called on Migrante-Middle East to apprise Philippine government officials of his plight.