The Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of 17 Filipinos who participated in a Halloween party in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The department made the statement even as a lawmaker said the pre-departure orientation seminars for departing Filipino workers should be intensified in light of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III’s confirmation that the 17 were arrested for holding a forbidden Halloween party in Riyadh.
Rep. Ron Salo said Filipino workers should be aware of what were allowed and not allowed in the countries where they would be deployed for employment.
“The incident highlights the need to make the pre-departure orientation seminars more intensive and should include all the do’s and don’ts in the country of destination,” Salo said.
“The tool kit to be given our workers must include a list of these do’s and don’ts, and they should commit these in their minds and hearts.”
Citing information from the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Elmer Cato said the Filipinos were being held at the Al Nisa Jail in the capital.
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Adnan Alonto said embassy officials had been requesting access to the Filipinos since their arrest was reported on Friday.
The 17 were among a number of people taken into custody by Saudi intelligence operatives who raided a compound in Riyadh after neighbors complained of a loud noise coming from the Halloween party.
Alonto said it was not immediately clear what charges had been filed against the Filipinos, but initial information showed that the party’s organizers had been charged with holding the event without a permit and disturbing the neighborhood.
Saudi laws prohibit unattached males and females from being seen together in public. With Maricel V. Cruz