COTABATO CITY – The migrant rights group Migrante-Middle East has urged Philippine lawmakers to look into the sad plight of abused Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia and in other nations, especially those with cases in court so that appropriate actions may be taken by the government to protect them.
Migrante also has lambasted Philippine embassy and labor officials in Saudi Arabia for their failure to provide prompt assistance to a 23- year old Filipino domestic worker, Fahima Palacasi Alagasi, who was allegedly abused and scalded by the mother of her male Yemeni employer.
The group also accused the embassy of mishandling the case filed by Alagasi, a native of North Cotabato’s Pikit town, against the woman. Alagasi sought help from Migrante and relayed her ordeal to John Leonard Monterona, the group’s regional coordinator based in Saudi Arabia.
Monterona has confirmed the meeting and he spoke with Alagasi. He said Alagasi was deployed in Riyadh on March 3 last year as domestic worker. Alagasi claimed two months later that she was subjected to an “excruciating ordeal by the mother of her Yemeni employer who poured boiling water on her after she had dropped the water heater while making coffee.”
Monterona said days after, Alagasi’s employer rushed her to clinic due to her wounds and that a Filipina nurse contacted her sister, while a cousin who was based in Riyadh helped her escaped and brought to Bahay Kalinga, a half way shelter for abused women OFWs managed by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh.
On May 29, 2015, Alagasi filed a case against the mother of her employer and after several court hearings, an embassy official told her not to attend the hearing anymore. Alagasi said was not given a briefing during court hearings and not properly informed of the progress of the case.
Monterona said he was able to talk to the embassy-hired lawyer providing legal services to Alagasi and was told that the defendant also filed two cases to counter the OFW’s accusations against the woman. One was a labor case that had been dismissed due to issue on court jurisdiction and the other is the counter-affidavit filed by the defendant.
“What is quite alarming is the assertion of Ms. Alagasi that she was not given proper briefing before, during, and after court hearing and update on the status of her case. We won’t be surprised if Ms. Alagasi’s case filed against the culprit will be dismissed and she, as a victim of maltreatment, will be sent to jail mainly because her case was messed up by inept embassy and labor officials,” Monterona said.
Monterona urged the House of Representatives, especially the Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs to look into Alagasi’s case and other OFWs with pending cases in foreign courts.
There was no immediate statement from Ambassador Ezzadin Tago about Alagasi’s ordeal. (Mindanao Examiner)
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