Jinggoy to lead free showing of "Katas ng Saudi" film for Filipinos in UAE

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada will visit the United Arab Emirates on July 2 to personally lead the holding of a free showing there of the film, "Katas ng Saudi," a story on the life of an overseas Filipino worker.

Katas ng Saudi will be shown in Dubai, host to some 167, 264 documented Filipino workers and their dependents, and in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, where there are about 85, 899 documented OFWs and their dependents.

The event is organized in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment's National Reintegration Center for OFWs (DOLE-NRCO) headed by Atty. Teresita Manzala, Deputy Administrator for Reintegration Services.

"Katas ng Saudi is a movie that is really tailor-fit to the financial literacy and entrepreneurship program of the NRCO which is a very important and much needed component of our reintegration services for homecoming or retiring OFWs," said Estrada, concurrent chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, and of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment.

Katas ng Saudi, hailed by top film critics as very informing, moving and entertaining, revolves around the character of Oca Dimaano who worked for ten years in Saudi Arabia but went home without ample savings and with his children not knowing him due to his long absence from the family. Faced with no employment and livelihood opportunities in the Philippines, he was forced by circumstances back to Saudi for work.

Estrada played the role of Oca in the film, for which he bagged the Best Actor award in the 2007 Metro Manila Film Festival as well as from the Entertainment Press Society Inc. (EnPress). The film also received the MMFF's Gatpuno Antonio Villegas Cultural Award.

"This film will surely inspire and challenge our migrant workers to prepare for eventual reintegration into the Philippine society as accomplished and productive ex-OFWs," the senator added.

During the visit, Estrada will also interact with OFWs and their families, as well as meet with officials of the UAE and of Philippine posts in the Emirates.