Press Release
May 27, 2008

Loren seeks justice for two filipinas in middle east

SEN. Loren Legarda yesterday called on President Macapagal-Arroyo to take a more active role to get justice for two unfortunate Overseas Filipino Workers--one is reportedly held hostage and raped by her employer and four others in Saudi Arabia and the other believed to have been murdered in Kabd desert in Kuwait.

In a resolution, Loren also urged the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resource Development to conduct a full probe of he both cases, saying the two OFWs--both women domestic helpers--considered among the country's new heroes deserved better attention from the government authorities.

The woman held as a prisoner in Saudi Arabia, according to Loren, is an Ifugao who hails from Quirino province. She managed to call her husband to report that she had been raped by her employer and four of his friends, one of whom even videotaped it.

Her relatives have asked Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Antonio Villamor in a letter dated May 21, but Loren said that the ambassador has yet to give a reply.

The OFW is virtually living like prisoner in her employer's house in Qatif in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, the senator said, quoting a report from militant workers group Migrante International. They're not yet disclosing the OFW's name for her protection, she added.

Bu while the Ifugao OFW is still alive, the second Filipina identified as Fatima Sagadan Maulana is dead, probably murdered on May 9 after she was allegedly raped.

Kuwaiti authorities discovered her body in decomposing state a week later, on May 16. Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo M. Endaya has reported the discovery of her body to Manila and the embassy has already contracted the services of private counsel to help ensure protection of the rights of the victim in the ensuing probe. The assailant had reportedly been was already arrested and facing charges.

Maulana was a 42-year-old Filipina who hailed from Carmen, Cotabato and was deployed to Kuwait as a domestic helper in 2002.

These two cases of domestic helpers in the Middle East, Loren said, showed the lack of effective government intervention, despite the workers' contribution to the Philippine economy.

"Despite being unsung heroes, our OFWs have, ironically, not received the due protection they need from the government to secure their safety and welfare in countries where they work," she said in the resolution.

"Despite the hapless plight of our OFWs exemplified by the exploitation and abuses inflicted to Flor Contemplacion and Sarah Balabagan, many of our OFWs continue to suffer in inhumane, abusive and exploitative working conditions," she added.

She told the President in the resolution that these OFWs "should not be made to suffer again from the ineptitude of our government--first from its failure to provide sufficient employment opportunities in the country forcing them to seek greener pastures abroad, and second, from its failure to provide adequate protection to them when their personal safety is compromised."

She told her colleagues in the Senate in the resolution that the probe would address the "ordeal of these workers and their families, and to ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice."

Loren said that as of September 2007, more than 1.75 million OFWs are scattered worldwide and have remitted P110 billion into the country.

"The remittances of these OFWs represent a significant contribution in propping up the economy and, for this reason, OFWs have been hailed as the country's new heroes," she said.

"It is high time that our government devote the much needed attention to our modern heroes," she added.

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