The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is providing all the necessary assistance to at least 19 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were arrested in Qatar for allegedly holding a protest action on Friday, March 28.
DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said a labor attache was already sent to the police station where the OFWs were detained for illegal assembly as the protest action was held without the necessary permit from the host country.
“We are closely monitoring the situation with our Embassy in Doha, we are providing all the assistance that we can. A labor attache, who is a lawyer, also went to the police station,” said Cacdac in an interview over dzBB.
Both the DMW and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) did not say if the illegal activity was related to the birthday celebration of former President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday when protest actions were held to oppose his detention in the Netherlands over crimes against humanity case he is facing before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In a Facebook post, the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Doha confirmed the arrest.
“The Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines in Doha is aware that several Filipino nationals have been arrested and detained early today, 28 March 2025, for suspected unauthorized political demonstrations in Qatar,” the statement read.
The Embassy is in touch with local authorities for the provision of necessary consular assistance to said nationals,” it added.
Following the incident, Cacdac reminded OFWs to refrain from holding activities that would violate the laws of the host country.
“We would like to remind our OFWs not to violate the host country’s laws because you are there to work,” said Cacdac.
He said OFWs in Qatar are fully aware of the laws since it is part of the briefing before their deployment.
“They know that, but of course it can really happen. There are missteps and sometimes they forget about the laws of the host country. But we will continue to remind them,” said Cacdac.
On the part of the DFA, the Philippine Embassy in Doha reminded OFWs as early as March 13 to respect Qatar’s local laws and customs.
“The Embassy reiterates its previous advisory dated 13 March 2025 for all Filipino nationals in the country to respect local laws and customs relating to mass demonstrations and expressions of political grievances,” the Facebook post read. (Aaron Recuenco)
