The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) should not rely solely on the assistance provided by politicians supporting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) when repatriating distressed OFWs, according to an alliance of OFW organization in the Middle East.

At the same time, the group said the OWWA should account for the repatriation fund to ensure transparency that this fund is being utilized only for its intended purpose.

“We welcome and are thankful for the assistance provided by some politicians or candidates to distressed OFWs, but it is wrong for OWWA to rely on them. They (OWWA) have a huge amount of fund intended for repatriation purposes,’’ said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator.

“We are calling on OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon to account for the repatriation fund as she told publicly that this fund held in trust to the government is intact,” he said.

The group made the call after it discovered that distressed OFWs in the Middle East still have to beg for their airfare tickets and repatriation.

They claimed that the OWWA had been very reluctant in sending these people home despite the huge amount, some P12-billion in OWWA fund, intended for repatriation purposes. Currently, Monterona said there are still a large number of runaway distressed OFWs tentatively seeking refuge in different Philippine posts hoping to be repatriated.

Citing reports from its chapter in Jeddah, he said the number of runaway distressed workers seeking refuge at Khandera Bridge in Jeddah is “doubling up and expected to surge after the Holy month of Ramadan.’’

Monterona did not give any account, but added these distressed workers are all wishing that the Saudi government would provide amnesty and send them home.

"Many of them have been staying at different resource centers or Bahay Kalinga for more than six months to one year,'' he bared. Based on OWWA records, the OWWA fund is derived from OFWs membership contributions charged as a required fee prior to their departure.

Under the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 (R.A. 8042), the OWWA being the premier welfare agency, is mandated “to undertake the repatriation of workers in cases of war, epidemic, disasters or calamities, natural or man-made, and other similar events without prejudice to reimbursement by the responsible principal or agency.’’

The law also stipulates that the OWWA shall provide some P100-million in assistance, inclusive of outstanding balances.

In cases where the principal or recruitment agency cannot be identified or in the case of distressed OFWs who were forced to run away because of employer’s abuses and maltreatment, the law directs the OWWA to shoulder all repatriation expenses.