Press Release
October 9, 2008

On distressed OFWs in Trinidad:
Villar extends help for repatriation

Efforts to free and repatriate imprisoned overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Trinidad and Tobago are getting a boost with the help of Senate President Manny Villar.

Villar is augmenting the necessary funds currently being pooled for the return tickets of at least 23 OFWs who were victimized by an unscrupulous employer in Tobago.

"Not only do we want to assure the safety of our Visayan workers but we also want to know why and how their recruitment was arranged when there was already prior knowledge that a bogus employer awaited them abroad," Villar stressed.

Due to breach of contract on the part of the employer, the OFWs left and tried to transfer to another employer in Trinidad but upon arrival they were detained by immigration authorities for allegedly holding fake documents reported by their first employer.

Villar's assistance is being coursed through the Office of Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) who has assured him of prompt action on the matter.

The Senate President is also pleased to know that the Office of Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia is vigorously helping in the repatriation of her constituents as cited by DFA.

The families of the OFWs wrote Villar to ask for assistance on the plight of their loved ones in Trinidad.

Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American state of Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It consists of two main islands, Trinidad which is the larger and more populous, and Tobago, which comprises six percent of the total area and four percent of the population.

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