First batch of OFWs from Kazakhstan arrives

The first batch of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Tengiz, Kazakhstan arrived in the country yesterday, relieved that they have escaped the chaos said to be prevailing in the eastern European country.

The 11 mostly oil field workers recounted tales of marauding Kazakhs who, they said, harassed mostly Turkish and Romanians in Kazakh factories due to a feeling of resentment toward foreigners working their oil fields.

The OFWs came home via Emirates Airways Flight EK 332, which landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal I at around 4:25 p.m.

They are Ricardo Ramos, Jimmy Fajardo, Adriano Teodolfo, Lauro Aritmetico, Mark Lagroma, Edwin Quinto, J. Lauren Serrano, Julieto Agno, Oneal Landicho, Guillermo Villacarlos, and Berlito Serut, all workers of US construction giant Bechtel which is a contractor of ChevronTexaco’s oil and gas separator plant in Tengiz.

The Filipino workers managed to come home through the efforts of the Philippine National Red Cross led by its chairman Sen. Richard Gordon, who tapped his contacts in the International Red Cross to arrange the outbound flights of the OFWs.

Ramos, who acted as one of the Filipinos’ leaders in Tengiz, said that the situation there was serious, and expressed hope that the government will help other Filipinos left there to get home.

"Hindi na kami babalik doon. Ang papakiusap sana namin sa ating gobyerno, matulungan kaming makahanap ng mapagtatrabahuhan sa ibang bansa o kaya sa mismong Bechtel (We are not going back there. Our plea is for the government to help us find employment either abroad or with Bechtel)," Ramos told reporters during a press conference at the NAIA I.

Ramos said that there were about 227 Filipinos working in Bechtel whose flights back to the Philippines had already been arranged by the PNRC, but the exact flight schedules still had to be worked out.

"Bale ang naka-schedule itong week na ’to is around 227. Nauna na kaming 11. Pero ang problema is yung schedule, wala pang schedule yung eroplano (Around 227 are scheduled to return this week The 11 of us left first), " he said. — Rainier Allan Ronda