DFA Undersecretary Visits Deportation Center in Qatar

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Y. Arriola (center) speaks with female wards at the Deportation Center. (ATNU photo)

DOHA 20 October 2018 — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) assured Filipino wards at Qatar’s deportation center that the Philippine Government is doing its utmost that they be repatriated to the Philippines and reunited with their families. 

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Y. Arriola conveyed these as she visited the visited the Search and Follow Up Department (SFD), Qatar’s deportation center on 13 October 2018 to check on Filipino female wards who are currently staying at the SFD while waiting for their flight back to Manila.

Upon her arrival at the deportation center, Undersecretary Arriola was received by SFD Director Brigadier General Abdullah Jaber Al-Labda at his office before proceeding to the female holding area where the female wards were waiting to meet her.

Before concluding the visit, Undersecretary Arriola distributed Jollibee meals and cash assistance to the wards, much to their delight.

This special visit and other assistance was made possible by the Ministry of Interior (MOI), following a meeting between Undersecretary Arriola and MOI’s Director General for Public Security Major General Saad Bin Jassim Al Khulaifi on 11 October 2018.

Undersecretary Arriola was on a four-day visit to Qatar from 11 October to 14 October 2018 to meet with Qatar government officials, Embassy officials and Filipino community leaders in view of recent reforms made by Qatar on the labor front, which will have significant impact on Filipino migrants in the country.

Joining the Undersecretary in the visit to the deportation center were Ambassador to Qatar Alan L. Timbayan, Labor Attaché David Des T. Dicang, Vice Consul Benjamin A. Celedio, Jr, Principal Assistant of the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Laser Blitz B. Sumagaysay, Office of the Secretary Adviser Peter John V. de la Fuente and other Embassy and Philippine Overseas Labor Office–Overseas Workers Welfare Administration personnel. END 

For more information, visit www.dohape.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHinQatar.