Two of the biggest Filipino community organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) condemned the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for failing to heed their request for an investigation of alleged anomalies linked to their ambassador and vowed to elevate their case to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) czar Vice President Jejomar Binay.

In a letter obtained by The Manila Times from the leaders of the Alliance of Concerned (ACO) OFWs in the UAE, and a breakaway group from the Filipino Expatriates Foundation (Filex) in the UAE, said that the inaction of the DFA has only fueled their desire to elevate their case to Binay, the Senate and even to Malacañang if it still falls on “deaf ears.”

The leaders wrote to Binay that “with the inaction of the DFA we seek your assistance to have this issue elevated to the higher authorities as we feel that the OFWs had been type-cast as simple workers and technicians and treated as brainless and passive Filipinos. The Bagong Bayani is only a slogan to comfort us, OFWs.”

Filex and ACO-OFW leaders vowed to meet with Binay as soon as the OFW czar is ready, adding that they haven’t lost confidence in their government leaders and are still hopeful that the matuwid na daan is not only a slogan but a rallying principle true to its character and purpose.

Weeks ago, a group of UAE-based OFWs asked the DFA to relieve Ambassador Grace Relucio Princesa over various issues, including the misuse of Filipino community funds and grave abuse of authority, this was immediately followed a week after by another OFW group, who also spilled more anomalies linked to the beleaguered envoy.

ACO-OFW and Filex members also accused Filex auditor Baltazar Junio Jr. and former UAE ambassador Libran Cabactulan of forging a shady deal and Al Dhafrah Insurance Co. of having paid for the insurance coverage of 10,000 members of about Dhs. 150,000 (about P2 million) from the contributions of the Abu Dhabi Filipino Community.

They added that with the influence of Cabactulan, another agreement was made with other Filipino community leaders to transfer the funds of the Abu Dhabi Filipino Community to Filex of about Dh 270,000 (almost P4 million) apart from the earlier amount paid for the group insurance coverage. Filex members also said that to this date, there is no official statement of accounts from the Filex officials yet.