A distressed Filipino overseas worker based in Saudi Arabia appealed for her immediate repatriation so she can pay her last respects to her husband who died in a vehicular accident in Palawan province.

Emily Lucero, 33, said her husband Edgar died when the tricycle he was driving was bumped by a gasoline truck in Puerto Princesa. Edgar died on the spot while two of his passengers remain in critical condition.

“I spoke to Emily over the phone and she is crying and asking us to follow closely her immediate repatriation,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator.

Monterona said Lucero even called up her husband the same day he met the accident. She told her husband that she will be coming home to celebrate Christmas with him and their two children.

“OFW Emily Lucero is one of the first 42 distressed OFWs who have decided to stop work to protest their employer, Al Nasban Co., after it failed to give their 2 to 3 months salary and illegally deducting their salary and other violations on their contract,” Monterona added.

He was informed about the accident by Eric Jocson, chairperson of the Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan (KGS), a member-organization of Migrante.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), he said, issued a statement early this month that it will repatriate the 89 distressed OFWs. He lamented that until now, the workers, now numbering to 92, are still waiting for their repatriation.

“Our KGS-Migrante in Riyadh will again call today the attention of POLO-OWWA and the RP post on the status of the 92 distressed OFWs in Al Nasban as their employer is still asking from each of them an amount of 6,000 to 8,000 riyal before it [can] issue exit visa and clearance for them,” Monterona said.

KGS-Migrante, he said, will particularly request POLO-OWWA to let Lucero be sent home immediately so that she could attend to her husband’s funeral in Puerto Princesa.

“We won’t see any reason why she could not be allowed to go home by her employer and issue exit visa for her. Her company should pay her all monetary entitlements due her like the unpaid salaries,” Monterona said.