Friday, November 24, 2006 Filipino workers from Kazakhstan recount ordeal
A SECOND batch of 98 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) arrived on Thursday morning in Manila from Kazakhstan to escape being caught in the middle of a bloody conflict between Kazakh and Turkish workers in a multinational oil firm there.
The OFWs, who were employed by Bechtel International in Tengiz, Kazakhstan, arrived at 9:40 a.m. aboard a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1.
The first batch of OFWs out of Kazakhstan arrived at the Naia via Emirates Flight EK322 last November 9. They paid Senator Richard J. Gordon a visit to thank him for working for their safe return to the Philippines. The returnees also recounted their ordeal to the senator, who is chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC).
"We just had to bring them home lest they suffer the same fate as the Turkish workers who were massacred in that country," said Gordon.
"One thing is for sure. Our OFWs were traumatized by the on-and-off riots between Turkish and Kazakh workers as they constantly feared being targeted also," he added.
As PNRC chair, Gordon asked the help of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to ensure the safety of the OFWs and their repatriation. Gordon also requested Bechtel to shoulder the airfare back home of the OFWs.
At the height of the conflict, the distressed OFWs in Kazakhstan as well as their relatives in the Philippines contacted Gordon for help. Since he was in Geneva, Switzerland at that time for a board meeting of the International Red Cross, Gordon immediately tapped his contacts to help the trapped OFWs.
"In line with the mission of the Red Cross to alleviate human suffering and protect life, it was my duty to help our OFWs in Kazakhstan and ensure their safe return to our country," said Gordon.
Ricardo Ramos, who spoke on behalf of the OFWs who returned from Kazakhstan last November 9, told Gordon that they were threatened and intimidated and that Bechtel failed to heighten security measures at its Tengiz plant.
He said many of the OFWs still in Kazakhstan want to return home despite Bechtel's move to increase their salaries by 50 cents per hour and despite slashing their working hours from 72 hours to 66 per week. (CPB/Sunnex)
