• Home

Amnesty Sought for Stranded Filipinos

AL AIN - The Philippine government through its diplomatic post in Muscat, Oman is seeking amnesty for an estimated 1,000 stranded Filipinos at the UAE-Oman borders of Al Buraimi and Khassab with expired visas and are now facing fines and deportation.

Philippine Ambassador to Oman, Akmad D. Omar told Khaleej Times on Monday that he is waiting for the official reply of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Muscat. “The Omani government is still studying our proposal so there is no definite response yet,” he said.

He is also making representation with the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila for a possible mass repatriation of those who cannot afford to pay for their airfare back home or are in critical condition.

Based on latest reports, about a thousand stranded Filipinos could not go back to UAE and needed to be repatriated, he stressed. “On our visits on September 27 and October 1, over 2,000 were stranded in Al Buraimi and on October 5, over 1,000 in Khasab.

The numbers started to taper off as the Philippine Ambassador to UAE Libran N. Cabactulan warned the Filipinos not to go on visa runs. By October 16, some 1,000 are left for possible repatriation, 300 of them are in Khasab border.

Ambassador Omar, with the help of the Filipino community and his embassy staff, personally went three times to the borders to monitor the situation of the stranded Filipinos as soon as reports from the media in UAE reached his office in Muscat.

“I personally supervised the distribution of relief goods, cooking pots, clothing and other necessary things of the stranded Filipinos, especially the women and children,” he disclosed.

He said that many of the stranded visa changers ran out of cash and other resources on the second week of their exit as they were not informed properly by their travel agents that it would take a month before they could receive a new visa.

“I am very much thankful to the over 40,000 Filipino expatriates in Oman, who have been supporting us all throughout in reaching out to stranded Filipinos on the UAE-Oman borders. Among them are the Filipino wives of rich Omanis, one of whom is the CEO of Nawas, second biggest telecom company in Oman,” he said.

He expressed satisfaction over the high moral among the stranded Filipinos along the UAE-Omani borders as soon as they met the diplomatic team and members of the Filipino community reaching out to them.

“I am hopeful that the Omani government will grant them amnesty, or if not, even to waive their fines or to reduce the daily fine of ten Omani riyals (Dh100) daily,” he concluded.

lily@khaleejtimes.com