To Hell and Back: A Stranded OFW’s Nightmare

How many days of “due process”?

On board a bus with window railings, they were brought to the Jeddah Deportation Center. “Parang kriminal talaga” (They treated us like criminals), Noel said, adding that mug shots of them were taken and they were even made to pay SR10 each for it. Because of the long line of deportees, the scanning of their eyes and fingerprinting were not completed until 10 p.m. Since their arrival at 12 noon they had eaten nothing but bread which they bought from a store inside the deportation area, “na patinda pa ng pulis” (which were being sold by the police).

In the first cell, they were about 280 deportees. “Yung CR ‘di mo talaga masikmura. Halos malapit na kami sa CR dahil sa siksikan” (The CR was something you can’t stomach. We were close to the CR because there were so many of us.)

The next day, a Consulate representative brought their travel documents, which needed their signatures.

On the third day in the Jeddah Deportation, another set of papers, written in Arabic, were brought to them by the Consulate representative for signature. “Aalis na daw kami pero ‘nilipat lang kami ng selda” (They said we would be leaving but we were only transferred to another cell.)

On the fourth day, another set of papers in Arabic were given out for them to sign. “Kung ‘di ka pipirma, may tama ka. Papaluin ka” (If you didn’t sign, they would hit you.)

On the fifth day, they were again transferred to another cell. “Akala namin tiket na lang hinihintay namin” (We thought we were just waiting for our tickets.)

Another two days have passed and no representative from the Consulate came. “Pero hintay pa rin kami. In high-spirit kami kasi nga ang iniisip namin makakauwi na kami… ‘Yun pala wala si Tago nasa ibang bansa. Di kontrolado ng mga kasama n’ya ang gagawin. Y’ung vice consul n’ya di alam ang gagawin, pati POLO” (But still we waited. We were in high spirits because we thought we would finally be able to go home… It turned out Tago was not here, he was abroad. His colleagues had no control over the situation. His vice consul and even the POLO didn’t know what to do.)

After 10 days in the Jeddah deportation facility where they acquired illnesses like colds, cough and fever, 13 OFWs, including Noel, were transferred to the Riyadh Deportation Center. On board a bus, their hands and feet were cuffed. “Pa’no ka pa makakatakas n’un? SOP daw” (How could you escape in that situation. They said it was standard operating procedure.) But even in a miserable situation, Noel and fellow OFWs found something positive. “Yehey! Sabi namin. lilipat na kaming Riyadh, makakauwi na kami” (Hooray! We thought that since we were being transferred to Riyadh, we would be able to go home.)

A welfare officer told Noel that they would meet an immigration officer in Riyadh. “Akala namin sa airport, ‘yun pala sa deportation din” (We thought we were being brought to the airport. As it turned out we were brought to a deportation area.)

No liars

At the Riyadh Deportation Center, they were again asked to pay SR10 for each set of mug shots but they didn’t have money. Fortunately, one of the OFWs still had money left, and he paid for the rest of the 12 OFWs’ photos. Unlike in Jeddah, the cells at the Riyadh deportation were “smaller.”
“Sa tabi na kami ng pinto nakahiga. Ang pagitan n’yo lang tama lang para lakaran. Ang pagkain kubos (a thin, flat bread which is the staple food in many Arab countries) lang. Ang kanin parang pagkain ng baboy. Nasa isang bandehadong malaki du’n kayo kakain sama-sama. Bawal magpapasok ng pagkain, y’ung ibang dalaw patago nagdadala ng pagkain” (We were lying down beside the door. The space between us was just big enough to walk through. The food was only kubos. The rice was like pig food. It was all in a large platter from where you all had to eat together. Bringing food in was forbidden, some visitors would bring food secretly.), said Noel who was already crying and was not able to control his emotions while telling Bulatlat his experience.