Two
congressmen are now asking national government agencies to investigate the anomalous
recruitment of two Boholana overseas workers deployed to the Middle East.
One
of the OFWs, Eugenia Baja, died of a mysterious cause in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
on February 24 and whose body was just recently repatriated | |  RAPE
VICTIM. Coming home from Jordan where she was abused by her employers, 23-year
old Meya Pojas (not her real name) accompanied by her mother (center) recounts
her sad fate to Rep. Edgar Chatto (l) shortly after her arrival. Foto: DANNY
REYES |
and
was buried in her hometown in Matin-ao, Sierra Bullones yesterday.Another
23-year old Boholana OFW, Meya Pojas (not her real name) from Dagohoy town who
worked as domestic helper arrived home last Monday after escaping her employers
in Jordan who repeatedly raped her.
First
district Rep. Edgar Chatto and Rep. Luz Ilagan of Gabriela are separately asking
the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA), Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA) and the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) to look into the death
of Baja and the alleged illegal recruitment of the domestic helper from Dagohoy.
Both
solons expressed concern on the welfare of other OFWs in the Middle East while
calling for justice on the death of Baja.
"The
unknown nature of her (Baja) death warrants an investigation. We are calling on
the government to cooperate with the proper authorities to know the real cause
of and thus give justice to her death," Ilagan said.
According
to Migrante International, an organization of OFWs and their families, Baja's
family was informed on March 3 that the OFW died of an illness in Riyadh. A second
report from the DFA, however, stated that she committed suicide.
One
month before her death, Baja's family received a text message from her asking
for help. |
| | The
partylist representative also called on the POEA to investigate on the anomalous
nature of Baja's recruitment. She purportedly signed a contract with a US-based
company to work as a patient server in Saudi Arabia but was employed as a domestic
helper. Her family also mentioned that she complained about not being given her
salary.
"Our
OFWs are not given enough protection by the government despite their help in keeping
our economy afloat," Ilagan said. "It is alarming how many of our so-called
heroes fell victim to illegal recruitment, illegal detention and exploitation
in other countries." | SEX
SLAVE
Domestic
helper Meya came back home Monday. She is the third overseas worker to arrive
in just five days and the only one of the three to return alive.
She
voluntarily advised those who yet yearn to work abroad, particularly in Middle
East, to be sure that they are not falling into the trap of unscrupulous illegal
recruiters.
The
maid in Jordan from Dagohoy had to change employers thrice in her just a little
over five months of work there, hoping to find one who could be kind and humane.
But fate was simply brutal to her.
When
Meya arrived here Monday morning, she proceeded, together with her parents and
a congressional staff, to the residence of Chatto to see and thank him for facilitating
her rescue and return.
Her
arrival followed the mournful return of deceased aircraft mechanic Franco Antonio
Galo on Thursday and Baja on Friday, who both worked in Riyadh.
Meya
narrated that on the night of her departure for Jordan last December 6, 2007,
a man, whom she now realized could be in cahoots with unscrupulous BID personnel,
escorted her at the NAIA and told an officer at the immigration counter to "just
allow her (Meya) entry (to Jordan)."
Just
before that, Meya was held at the immigration counter when a BID personnel found
out her visa, which had Arabic entries she could not decipher, to be for tourist,
not employment.
FROM
HEAT TO HELL
The
ordeal of Meya began just a few weeks after she started working for her first
male Arab employer in Amman, Jordan.
He
would touch her private parts and during nighttime she could hardly sleep as her
male boss and his wife would have violent fights.
She
complained to her employment handler there called AKKA Trading Est and begged
to find her another employer.
Her
second employer, also an Arab couple, physically harmed the Boholana maid, who
always got slapped and choked.
Her
female employer would not give her food, so that the domestic helper would "steal"
something to eat from the food closet whenever the wife was out.
Meya
found a third employer---a couple who, this time, was kind to her---but whose
25-year-old son repeatedly raped her in the family's five-storey house.
The
Boholana maid, who stayed on the third floor, could not get out of the building
since its main door on the ground floor would be locked after members of the family
got out. The windows of the building are blocked with steel bars.
Especially
when the Arab couple were out, their son would force Meya to the rooftop where
she was raped several times.
The
OFW managed to contact her mother whom she confided her suffering, prodding the
latter to seek assistance from Chatto thru his office here.
Chatto's
office alarmed and linked with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, POEA,
the DFA and the Philippine Embassy in Jordan on Meya's plight. (With reports from
Ven Arigo) | 
