Within 24 hours
Villar rescues OFW

Nacionalista Party President Manny Villar rescued yet another overseas Filipino worker (OFW), this time from an entanglement with a drug trafficking syndicate.

Nilfa Dumalagan, 31, mother of five children, was repatriated via Air Asia flight AK 662 within 24 hours following her friend's call to the senator, who in turn communicated right away with the Philippine Embassy in Malaysia.

The OFW visited Villar's office straight from the airport with her luggage on Aug. 11 to thank the legislator. She admitted she threw caution to the wind when she grabbed an offer to work in Malaysia, borrowing money for her plane ticket and leaving the country on June 22.

"We are glad that Nilfa has returned home safely, after exercising good judgment in her time of dilemma abroad which spared her from woes," Villar said.

"We have a lot of work to do in order to rescue many more OFWs who have unknowingly placed themselves in compromising situations abroad, in a desperate attempt to give their families better lives," the senator stressed.

Dumalagan explained, "Hindi ko na kayang makita ang mga anak ko na lagi na lang toyo ang inuulam at lagi na lang 'am' ang dinedede. Hindi kasi sapat ang kinikita ng asawa ko, kaya kahit masakit at mahirap, pinilit kong makaalis." (I cannot take seeing my children drinking rice water instead of milk and eating rice with soy sauce as viand anymore. My husband's earnings are not enough to sustain our growing family. So even if it is painful and difficult, I decided to work abroad.)

She entered Malaysia with a tourist visa, staying initially in the house of fellow Filipinos, until she met a couple (Filipina-Singaporean and Nigerian) who offered her a job with a salary of $2,000. All she was asked to do was travel to Peru to get a package and bring it to South Africa.

Through a Filipino passenger whom she met at the airport on her way to Peru, Dumalagan realized that prostitution and drug trafficking are rampant in Peru and the victims are usually women like her. This alarmed her and she cancelled her flight on Aug. 5. She ran away from her employer and sought the help of a former classmate in college, Ali Bicoy, who in turn called up Villar's office on Aug. 10. The OFW arrived in Manila on Aug. 11.

Another Filipina, Gemma Sagido, is currently on the death row in China for drug trafficking charges. She was earlier recruited to "transport gold from Malaysia to China" for P20,000.

Villar has set up Sagip-OFW helpline as a voluntary effort to give an avenue for the beleaguered OFWs to make known their predicament for timely assistance, at the same time, he is pushing for conducive economic conditions to give citizens opportunities in the country as a long-term solution.